.MILLE 


BV  2060  .M5  1920 
Miller,  George  A.  1868 
Missionary  morale 


OTHER  BOOKS  BY  DR.  MILLER 


THE  LIFE  EFFICIENT 

CHINA  INSIDE  OUT 

PROWLING  ABOUT  PANAMA 


Missionary   Morale 


By   / 

GEORGE  A.  MILLER 


ILSE»3i£ 


THE  METHODIST  BOOK  CONCERN 
NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI 


Copyright,  1920,  by 
GEORGE  A.  MILLER 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

Foreword 

page 
9 

I. 

The  Man  Behind  the 
grams 

Pro- 

11 

Invincible  Men— World  Plans— 
A  New  Hope — The  Search 
for  Effective  Men— The  Task 
of  the  Church — The  Sources 
of  Morale. 

II.  Morale  and  Life 19 

Morale  of  the  Disciples — The 
Missionary  as  a  Man — Vic- 
tory through  Quality. 

III.  Paganism  and  Fanaticism...  .     25 

Hating  Heathenism  —  Pagan 
Morale — Proclaim  the  Better 
Way  —  Fanaticism  —  Social 
Expectation  —  Unbalanced 
Personality. 

IV.  Soldiers,  Athletes,  and  Ex- 

plorers       35 

Morale  of  the  Athlete— The 
Explorers. 

5 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

V.  John  and  Paul 40 

John  the  Apostle — Utter  Cer- 
tainty of  Spiritual  Things — 
Paul  —  Elements  of  Back- 
ground— "An  Original  Expe- 
rience of  Christ"  —  Personal 
Identity  with  Christ — Sense 
of  the  Unseen — Christ  for  the 
World— It  Takes  Time. 

VI.  The  Call  and  the  Task 50 

Why  Does  a  Missionary  Go? 
— 1.  Romance  —  2.  Travel — 

3.  The    Personal    Touch— 

4.  Fruitful  Life  Investment — 

5.  A  Direct  Call— The  Best 
Missionaries. 

VII.  The  Missionary  in  the  Mak- 
ing      57 

What  Shall  the  Candidate  Do? 
—What  Is  Candidate  Mo- 
rale? —  The  Gift  That  is 
Within — Five  Essentials  to 
Success. 

VIII.  The  Few  Who  are  Chosen.  .     65 
The  Many  Called— What  Makes 
the    Missionary  —  Sense    of 
Humor — Enemies  of  Morale. 

IX.  Artificial  Morale 74 

Propaganda  Methods — Staying 
Power  —  Organized  Facts  — 
Morale  and  Life  Results. 
6 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

X.  The  Foundation  of  Faith  .  .     81 
The  Foundation — Faith  in  the 
Unseen — A  Personal  Faith — 
Fear  and  Love. 

XL  Discipline  and  Drudgery.  . .  87 
Majors  and  Minors  —  Duplex 
Efficiency — Bridging  the  Gap 
— Personality — Sacrifice  and 
Discipline — Three  Disciplines 
— Formalities — Previous  At- 
tainments —  Final  Devote- 
ment  of  Whole  Personality — 
The  Missionary  and  His 
Reading — Unique  Opportu- 
nities— The  Silent  Death — 
Tragic  Miss-Fits. 

XII.  The  Home  Church 103 

Home  Backing  Multiplies — Sec- 
ond-Term Success  —  Perni- 
cious Correspondents  —  Tell 
the  Truth — Getting  the  Facts 
to  the  Home  Church — Pub- 
licity— Emotional  Appeals. 

XIII.  Missionary  Administration.  114 

Contact  with  the  Office — 1.  The 
Unified  Command  —  2.  The 
Whole  Objective  —  3.  The 
Specific  Task — 4.  The  Stand- 
ardized Organization. 

7 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  -  PAGE 

XIV.  The  Mission  Family 124 

Living  in  Close  Quarters — A 
Missionary's  Recreation  — 
Readjusting  Social  Standards 
— Contract  Teachers  —  Un- 
married Women — A  Working 
Sense  of  Humor  —  Social 
Graces — The  Wider  Fellow- 
ships 

XV.  Public  Service 135 

A  Missionary's  Influence — Let- 
ting in  the  Light — The  Mis- 
sionary not  a  Propagandist 
— Dealing  with  Governments. 

XVI.  The    Missionary    and    His 

Mission 143 

Meeting  the  Constituency — The 
Pioneer — Flowers  in  the  Des- 
ert—The Margin  of  Reti- 
cence— The  Personal  Touch 
— Language  Problems — Na- 
tive Fellowships — The  Art  of 
Command  —  Living  as  the 
Natives — Native  Religions — 
Loving  the  People — The  Vic- 
tory of  Morale. 


8 


FOREWORD 

What  the  morale  of  the  soldier  wrought 
in  France  the  spirit  of  the  missionary  must 
accomplish  everywhere.  In  the  days  of  no 
equipment  the  missionary's  personality 
largely  accounted  for  his  results.  Now 
that  lands,  buildings,  machinery,  funds, 
and  apparatus  are  being  planned  and  pro- 
vided on  a  scale  beyond  all  previous  un- 
dertakings, there  arises  the  urgent  need  of 
men  and  women  sufficient  for  the  challenge 
of  a  new  world  situation.  The  cause  is 
finally  to  be  lost  or  won  on  the  basis  of  its 
working  personnel.  Where  and  how  shall 
we  provide  the  supermissionary? 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE 
PROGRAMS 

It  is  proposed  to  recreate  a  broken  world. 
Vast  plans  are  projected  and  complex  or- 
ganizations arise.  Before  the  smoke  of 
battle  had  cleared  from  the  skies  of  suf- 
fering nations  the  minds  of  far-seeing  men 
were  searching  to  and  fro  throughout  the 
earth,  devising  means  and  measures  for  re- 
lief and  reconstruction.  It  is  now  required 
that  civilization  be  rebuilt  in  a  generation. 
Old  things  must  become  new  and  new 
things  better. 

Invincible  Men 

To  clear  away  the  debris  of  the  old  order 
and  lay  foundations  for  the  new  earth  will 
call  for  a  great  company  of  men  and  women 
of  the  highest  and  most  efficient  type.  Only 
those  of  finest  fiber  will  be  sufficient.  For 
such  undertakings  men  must  be  strong  in 
11 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

that  fourth  dimension  that  reaches  toward 
the  infinite  and  feeds  upon  heavenly  bread 
that  the  world  has  overlooked. 

It  is  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  gospel  that 
it  has  ever  produced  invincible  men,  sus- 
tained by  unseen  forces  and  filled  by  the 
Omnipotent  Spirit.  Where  human  reckon- 
ing has  failed,  the  unconquerable  man  has 
gone  through.  If  he  failed  to  save  his  life, 
he  still  could  die  for  the  cause. 

We  are  thinking  and  planning  in  terms 
of  high  potentials  and  world  programs. 
The  underlying  problem  is  that  of  finding 
enough  undefeatable  men  to  go  out  and 
translate  the  great  plans  into  living  ac- 
tualities. We  near  the  margin  of  a  better 
country.  Major  prophets  are  pointing  the 
way.  What  we  need  is  enough  competent 
guides  to  keep  humanity  in  step  until  we 
cross  the  border  of  the  promised  land. 

World  Plans 

The  sound  of  the  trumpet  is  in  the  air. 
Centenaries  and  New  Eras  and  Jubilees  and 
Celebrations  and  World  Programs  and  In- 
terchurch  projects  are  all  about  us.  For 
the  confirmed  provincial  mind  it  must  be 
12 


MAN  BEHIND  THE  PROGRAMS 

very  confusing.  We  are  mounting  up  on 
the  wings  of  world  surveys  and  race  units 
and  comity  and  cooperation  and  united 
drives  and  assigned  responsibilities.  Pro- 
motion and  propaganda  and  publicity  and 
payments  and  prayer;  organization  and 
operation  and  conservation  and  continua- 
tion are  recasting  our  terminology  and  re- 
assembling our  activities.  The  upheavals 
of  a  new  creation  are  about  us,  and  we  set 
up  and  revise  and  reform  our  committees 
and  boards  overnight  and  begin  over  again 
the  next  morning  with  a  bigger  plan  and  a 
more  determined  purpose  to  challenge  the 
last  man  at  home  and  offer  the  last  man 
everywhere  the  more  abundant  life  of  the 
gospel.  It  must  have  been  something  like 
this  when  the  world  was  young  and  the 
continents  were  remade  and  shifted  into 
place. 

A  New  Hope 

These  great  plans  bring  the  thrill  of  a 
new  hope  to  every  seeing  soul.  It  is  good 
to  live  and  think  in  the  thoughts  of  men 
from  whose  eyes  the  scales  have  fallen  as 
they  have  stood  on  high  places  and  beheld 
13 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

the  eternal  purposes  and  then  have  dared 
to  come  back  and  undertake  to  realize  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  Never  was  such 
a  day  as  this,  and  never  have  men  and 
women  listened  to  such  a  call  for  devote- 
ment  of  their  lives  to  highest  service  of 
God  and  men.  Never  has  there  been  so 
bright  a  promise  of  a  hundredfold  harvest. 
No  seeing  soul  can  think  small  thoughts 
again.  The  world  is  melting  in  the  caul- 
dron. Who  is  able  to  shape  the  mold  for 
the  new  civilization  to  be  cast  before  our 
eyes?  The  fires  of  world  events  wax  hot 
in  the  furnace  of  the  times. 

Wherefore  the  need  of  men,  better  men, 
bigger  men,  stronger  men,  men  who  can 
stay  brave  and  hold  steady  longer  than 
any  men  yet  assigned  tremendous  tasks. 
The  outcome  of  the  new  plans  and  larger 
measures  depends  upon  the  church's  power 
to  provide  men  of  world  horizons  and  con- 
tinent programs.  All  plans  must  inevitably 
settle  back  to  the  level  of  the  men  who 
must  operate  them.  Only  world  men  can 
actualize  world  undertakings.  Calvary 
would  have  been  but  a  Jewish-Roman 
execution  without  a  Divine  Redeemer  to 
14 


MAN  BEHIND  THE  PROGRAMS 

make  effective  the  spiritual  potentialities 
of  the  cross. 

The  "higher  level  of  experience  and  life" 
projected  for  the  church  and  the  new 
social  order  planned  for  the  world  will  be 
but  idle  dreams  without  men  and  women 
equal  to  the  tasks  of  realizing  these  divine 
visions  in  daily  life  and  human  interests. 
Without  the  grace  of  higher  effectiveness, 
the  most  far-flung  purposes  will  yield  but 
meager  results. 

The  Search  for  Effective  Men 

Where  and  how  shall  this  more  effective 
workman  be  found?  What  are  the  secret 
sources  of  his  power  and  where  are  the 
hidden  springs  of  his  personality?  How 
may  a  man  rise  above  his  own  best  and 
become  something  better,  a  reincarnation 
of  the  undiscourageable  purpose  in  a  human 
soul? 

This  is  our  problem.  What  makes  men 
truly  able  for  the  business  of  doing  the 
impossible?  Who  can  name  that  spiritual 
intuition  beyond  mental  alertness,  that 
wisdom  transcending  human  judgment, 
that  knowledge  outside  of  information,  that 
15 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

endurance  in  excess  of  human  limits,  that 
steadfastness  that  defies  torture  and 
drudgery  and  loneliness  and  death?  Who 
can  answer  these  questions  holds  the  key 
to  the  triumphant  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth. 

How  comes  it  that  there  are  men,  con- 
scious, not  of  greatness,  but  of  being  able 
for  the  tasks  of  every  passing  day?  Whence 
comes  the  unshaken  assurance  that  all  sac- 
rifices are  trifling  beside  the  eternal  im- 
portance of  the  Great  Cause?  Who  will 
open  our  eyes  to  see  the  forces  that  fight 
for  us? 

The  Task  of  the  Church 

This  is  the  task  of  the  church,  to  dis- 
cover and  develop  those  sources  of  effective 
personality  that  lie  beyond  classroom  di- 
plomas, medical  examinations,  Binet-Simon 
tests,  and  the  deepest-laid  good  intentions. 
Failure  here  means  the  wrecking  of  the 
greatest  machinery  ever  devised  for  world 
redemption. 

Careful  training  may  produce  a  workman 
meeting  every  known  test,  yet  later  he  may 
falter  and  stumble  over  the  unforeseen  di- 
16 


MAN  BEHIND  THE  PROGRAMS 

lemma  or  the  unfamiliar  difficulty.  The 
tests  have  high  value,  but  we  shall  never 
find  in  any  laboratory  or  examination  room 
the  measure  of  a  man's  resistance  under 
complicated  pressures,  nor  the  staying 
power  that  will  outlast  the  persistent  op- 
ponent, nor  yet  the  unknown  reactions 
amid  untried  emergencies.  There  is  no 
advance  test  for  a  man's  "kindling  ca- 
pacity" in  a  new  situation.  The  whole 
issue  may  depend  on  the  unpremeditated 
act  of  a  man  at  bay. 

The  Sources  of  Morale 

What  we  must  find  is  the  fountain  of 
the  spirit.  Men  under  strain  will  ulti- 
mately do  what  the  inner  forces  of  their 
own  natures  impel  them  to  do.  Training 
is  valuable,  but  the  inner  nature  is  de- 
terminative. 

The  value  of  a  man's  education  is  finally 
measured  by  his  effective  contact  with 
humanity.  How  much  does  he  weigh  in 
the  scales  of  life?  Granted  the  fine  steel 
of  inherent  ability,  what  edge  has  training 
wrought  on  his  sword?  How  shall  we  dis- 
cover and  develop  characters  that  will,  by 
17 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

force  of  inner  motives,  register  effectively 
in  the  difficult  tasks  and  crises  of  a  mis- 
sionary's life? 

To  discover  the  sources  of  the  mission- 
ary's morale  and  live  by  them  is  to  achieve 
the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world. 


18 


CHAPTER  II 

MORALE  AND  LIFE 

The  training  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus 
presented  a  distinct  problem  in  effective 
morale.  Even  in  the  presence  of  the  Great 
Teacher  they  were  slow  to  develop  quali- 
ties fit  for  founders  of  the  new  church. 
Two  or  three  years  of  intimate  association 
with  Christ  were  not  enough  to  produce 
personal  stability  and  moral  resistance 
sufficient  for  the  strain  of  Passion  Week. 

Morale  of  the  Disciples 

But  ordinary,  stumbling,  changeable  men 
did  become  shining  examples  of  the  highest 
morale.  To  get  the  same  results  to-day 
from  similar  materials  is  our  responsibility. 
If  we  ever  succeed,  we  must  begin  with  a 
lot  of  men  capable  of  denying  their  Lord, 
and  there  always  will  be  some  who  will 
insist  on  calling  down  fire  from  heaven 
upon  those  who  do  not  agree  with  them. 
The  doubter  and  the  timid  and  the  im- 
19 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

pulsive  and  the  persecutor  and  the  ignorant 
are  always  with  us. 

But  something  else  is  also  with  us.  The 
Power  that  made  a  fearless  prophet  from  a 
faltering  Peter  lives  and  reigns  to-day. 
Back  of  the  condensed  statements  that  de- 
scribe the  day  of  Pentecost  lay  factors  of 
preparation  and  experience  out  of  which 
grew  the  results  of  that  hour  of  climax. 
When  a  faltering  Peter  becomes  the  fearless 
prophet  of  the  new  kingdom  and  a  perse- 
cuting Saul  becomes  the  most  influential 
man  of  his  century,  the  sources  of  high- 
power  personality  have  been  discovered 
and  utilized.  Certainly,  here  lies  our 
glorious  hope.  If  the  last  great  assurance 
of  Jesus  means  anything,  it  means  that  we 
have  "with  us  alway"  "this  same  Jesus," 
and  that  he  is  still  able  to  produce  men  of 
world-winning  caliber.  Until  the  promise 
of  his  presence  is  withdrawn  we  have  no 
valid  reason  for  discouragement. 

The  Missionary  as  a  Man 

Napoleon  said  that  in  warfare  "the  moral 
was   to   the   physical   as   three   to   one." 
Enormous  advances  have  been  made  in 
20 


MORALE  AND  LIFE 

improvement  of  the  physical  condition  of 
fighting  men,  but  the  men  who  won  the 
war  in  Europe  are  agreed  that,  after  all, 
the  preponderance  of  good  morale  as  a 
decisive  factor  still  holds.  The  body  has 
been  lifted  to  higher  levels  of  health,  and 
physical  "condition"  has  received  close  at- 
tention, but  the  spirit  of  the  men  has  come 
to  such  prominence  as  never  before.  We 
have  learned  that  in  the  last  analysis  it  is 
the  soul  of  the  man  that  does  the  fighting. 

At  the  ultimate  point  of  contact  with  life, 
all  missionary  work  is  distinctly  personal. 
It  is  the  man  himself  who  counts.  The 
missionary  has  no  greater  privilege  nor  re- 
sponsibility than  the  training  of  his  own 
spirit.  It  makes  a  deal  of  difference 
whether  he  is  half-hearted  or  whole- 
hearted about  his  work.  He  may  have 
lost  heart  altogether,  and  drag  along  hope- 
lessly awaiting  furlough  or  retirement. 

It  is  inevitable  that  we  think  much  in 
terms  of  equipment  and  material  values. 
Appropriations,  budgets,  askings,  build- 
ings, installments,  interest,  subscriptions, 
and  collections  are  well-worn  terms  in  our 
dealings  with  the  work.  What  we  must 
21 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

not  forget  is  the  final  human  factor  in 
every  missionary  undertaking.  We  must 
have  the  best  machine  possible,  but  we 
must  also  find  the  man  who  can  direct  the 
machine,  and  do  something  that  no  ma- 
chine can  ever  do,  or  we  shall  achieve  only 
machine  results.  In  a  locked  room  of  a 
far-away  mission  school  lies  an  expensive 
set  of  dust-covered  chemical  laboratory 
apparatus,  useless  because  there  is  no  one 
to  put  it  to  work.  A  load  of  brick  would 
have  been  more  useful.  A  Sailors'  Home 
in  an  Oriental  port  struggled  along  on 
scant  support,  but  under  the  administra- 
tion of  an  earnest  man  did  some  useful 
work.  A  sudden  windfall  caused  inflation 
of  plans.  The  manager  was  unequal  to  the 
larger  purposes,  and  the  institution  was 
ruined  and  closed  its  doors.  Not  too  much 
money,  but  too  little  man. 

Provide  the  equipment,  the  best  is  not 
good  enough.  But  better  equipment  means 
the  need  of  still  better  men  to  use  it  effec- 
tively. The  modern  mission  plant,  with  its 
numerous  specialties,  will  need  a  specialist 
in  getting  results,  or  it  may  yet  become 
little  more  than  a  dusty  machine  shop. 
22 


MORALE  AND  LIFE 

Victory  Through  Quality 

If  Jesus  Christ  had  waited  until  he  could 
have  assembled  a  host  and  organized  a 
"drive,"  the  Christian  Church  would  be  yet 
unborn.  Every  great  moral  movement  of 
Christian  history  has  been  initiated  by 
lonely  pioneers,  who  went  out,  sometimes 
without  human  chart  or  compass,  but 
always  with  the  vision  of  the  spiritual  city 
of  God  before  their  eyes.  Few  they  have 
been  and  often  forsaken.  It  is  the  tragedy 
of  spiritual  leadership  that  it  is  so  lonely. 
Across  the  dark  pages  of  human  ignorance 
and  perversity  they  march  in  solitary  sil- 
houette against  the  sky.  Sometimes  they 
falter  and  stumble,  but  they  rise  and  fol- 
low in  the  footsteps  of  Him  whom  having 
not  seen  they  love  unto  the  end. 

This  thin  red  line  of  pioneers  is  the  en- 
tering wedge  of  the  innumerable  host  that 
always  follows  in  the  wake  of  the  spiritual 
explorers  of  the  universe.  There  always 
will  be  followers.  But  how  shall  they 
follow  without  a  leader,  and  how  shall  one 
lead  unless  he  first  of  all  be  led  from  on 
high  and  filled  with  the  invincible  Spirit? 
23 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

A  rudder  is  a  very  small  part  of  a  ship, 
say  one  unit  of  ten  thousand,  but  the  rud- 
der controls  the  direction  and  destination 
of  the  ten  thousand.  The  moral  heralds 
and  spiritual  light-bearers  may  not  be 
numerous,  but  they  carry  torches  that 
illuminate  the  path  of  life  and  reveal 
values.  And  the  solitary  leaders  on  the 
far-flung  line  of  march  will  not  travel 
alone.  Theirs  is  the  fellowship  of  the 
prophets  and  priests  and  redeemers  of 
mankind.  Verily  it  is  a  goodly  company. 
Who  follows  in  their  train? 


24 


CHAPTER  m 

PAGANISM  AND  FANATICISM 

Any  effective  effort  to  deal  with  pagan- 
ism or  fanaticism  must  deal  directly  with 
the  problems  of  morale.  It  is  the  inner 
spirit  of  the  devotee  that  must  be  met 
and  conquered.  His  physical  condition 
and  mental  processes  are  secondary  to  the 
peculiar  self  that  lies  back  of  all  externals. 

Hating  Heathenism 

The  easiest  way  to  deal  with  the 
"heathen"  is  to  assume  an  attitude  of 
belligerent  dogmatism  and  roundly  de- 
nounce his  barbarous  practices  and  un- 
christian beliefs.  Since  he  is  a  heathen, 
he  is  wrong  and  must  be  set  right  at  all 
costs.  Being  a  child  of  the  devil,  how  can 
he  be  other  than  diabolical?  The  head-on 
fight  is  comparatively  easy  and  leads  com- 
placently to  the  attitude  of  the  missionary 
himself,  but  it  is  a  confession  of  fatal 
weakness  nevertheless.  Shotgun  evan- 
25 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

gelism  requires  nothing  more  than  very 
general  marksmanship  and  produces  very 
indefinite  results.  When  did  ever  clear 
vision  follow  blind  antagonism? 

Pagan  Morale 

The  morale  of  paganism  presents  a  rela- 
tively easy  approach  to  the  Christian 
propagandist.  The  spirit  of  a  Chinese 
Buddhist  priest  in  a  far-inland  town  is 
decidedly  negative  and  presents  but  a 
spongy  resistance  to  the  virile  approach 
of  Christianity.  The  moral  tone  of  a 
faith  that  centers  in  filthy  and  tumbled- 
down  temples  and  owes  its  existence  to 
the  incantations  of  illiterate  and  dishev- 
eled degenerates  cannot  stand  before  the 
clean  and  wholesome  spirit  of  the  Christian 
missionary.  The  morale  of  hoary  and  un- 
intelligent tradition  is  effective  mainly 
through  sheer  immobility.  It  is  the  re- 
sistance of  a  vast  sandbank  that  swallows 
attacks  and  blocks  the  road  to  progress. 

This  morale  of  pagan  inertia  is  the 
harder  to  overcome  because  there  is  no 
discoverable  reason  for  anything.  If  there 
were,  it  could  be  segregated  and  attacked 


PAGANISM  AND  FANATICISM 

and  something  decided.  But  lacking  ra- 
tional sanction,  there  is  no  reasoning  it 
out  of  the  way.  Decisive  engagements  are 
impossible  with  sandbanks  and  sponges. 

Proclaim  the  Better  Way 

What  the  missionary  has  to  do,  then,  is 
not  to  reason  at  all,  but  to  proclaim  and 
awaken  and  inspire  a  new  hope  that  will 
plant  seeds  of  spiritual  life  where  they 
will  spring  up  and  produce  forms  of 
living  faith.  Some  missionaries  have 
wasted  years  in  trying  to  persuade  people 
that  they  had  a  way  that  would  be 
better  if  tried.  To  inspire  with  his  own 
personal  character  and  interest  a  few 
people  to  try  that  which  has  made  the 
man  what  he  is  will  soon  produce  living 
demonstrations  that  will  supersede  mere 
polemics.  The  contagion  of  example  will 
win  out. 

There  is  little  cohesion  and  almost  no 
organization  in  the  paganism  of  the  South 
Sea  Islands.  Japanese  monasteries  are 
sometimes  little  more  than  begging  com- 
munities. The  fetish  worship  of  the  hill 
tribes  presents  no  articulated  front.  The 
27 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

bushmen  of  Africa  have  plenty  of  tradi- 
tions, and  are  ruled  by  them,  but  they  are 
individually  and  socially  approachable  on 
personal  grounds.  A  stratified  social  sys- 
tem in  India  holds  millions,  not  because  it 
is  rational,  but  because  it  has  become  in- 
terwoven with  all  social  sanctions.  Fond 
of  polemic  as  is  the  East  Indian,  he  is 
not  won  to  Christianity  through  defeat 
in  argument  but  by  persuasion  of  living 
results. 

The  battle  with  paganism  is  won,  so  far 
as  effective  resistance  is  concerned.  Tasks 
and  problems  and  heavy  burdens  there  are, 
but  they  are  not  the  struggle  of  encounter 
with  a  virile  morale  that  defends  itself  and 
fights  back  to  kill. 

On  a  great  rock  beside  a  beautiful  river 
stands  a  picturesque  Buddhist  temple. 
The  scenery  from  the  balcony  would  lift 
any  receptive  soul  to  realms  of  the  sub- 
lime. It  was  the  cleanest  temple,  the  most 
charming  setting,  and  the  most  intelligent 
priest  I  had  seen.  And  the  reception  was 
courtesy  and  dignity  personified.  After 
formalities,  discussion  veered  around  to 
the  weightier  matters  of  faith,  and  when 
28 


PAGANISM  AND  FANATICISM 

Buddha  and  Christ  had  been  discussed,  the 
priest  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  remarked : 
"Oh,  well,  what  is  the  use?  We  all  sin, 
and  human  nature  cannot  be  changed. 
Why  trouble  further  in  the  matter  ?" 

In  the  same  city  stand  two  large  mission 
schools,  a  good  church,  a  community  house, 
a  great  hospital,  and  a  leper  mission,  all 
busily  engaged  in  changing  human  nature. 
Later  on,  when  the  native  official  had  ab- 
sorbed modern  ideas  from  the  mission  and 
had  raised  funds  to  provide  clean  streets, 
running  water,  and  sewerage,  he  went  to 
the  missionary  to  secure  superintendency 
of  the  work.  Obviously,  the  morale  of 
paganism  does  not  constitute  a  serious  ob- 
stacle to  the  work  of  that  missionary. 

Fanaticism 

The  missionary  who  attempts  to  estab- 
lish Christian  faith  and  its  resultant  insti- 
tutions amid  Mohammedanism,  some  kinds 
of  Hinduism,  and  some  brands  of  Roman 
Catholicism  faces  a  very  different  problem. 
When  a  man  will  hang  by  hooks  till  the 
muscles  tear  out  of  his  back,  or  drag  heavy 
chains  through  the  streets  while  his 
29 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

"friends"  flay  his  bleeding  body,  we  are 
dealing  with  something  very  different  from 
a  sponge.  Fanaticism  fights  back,  and 
when  a  man  will  torture  himself  unto 
death,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  he  will 
also  be  found  ready  to  boil  his  opponents 
in  oil  and  burn  them  at  the  stake. 

It  is  not  hard  to  understand  the  spirit 
that  tortures  its  victims,  but  the  morale  of 
self-torture  needs  a  little  examination.  The 
power  that  induces  a  widow  to  mount  the 
funeral  pyre  is  not  to  be  lightly  reckoned 
with. 

Social  Expectation 

The  impulsions  of  a  strong  social  expec- 
tation have  much  to  do  with  the  case. 
When  "everybody"  maintains  a  closed 
state  of  mind  on  the  question,  and  any 
other  course  is  regarded  as  unthinkable 
and  impossible,  there  is  nothing  left  for  the 
victim  but  resignation  to  fate.  The  sug- 
gestion of  nonconformity  comes  with  a 
shock  as  if  in  our  own  land  it  were  proposed 
to  cease  burying  the  dead  and  leave  them 
lying  in  the  streets.  To  withstand  the 
social  prestige  of  ages  of  established  cus- 
30 


PAGANISM  AND  FANATICISM 

torn  requires  more  courage  than  to  walk 
into  the  fire. 

Fatalism  plays  its  deadly  part  in  the 
drama  of  fanaticism.  To  the  reasoning  and 
more  or  less  unfettered  mind  of  the  West 
the  closed  and  bound-for-all-eternity  atti- 
tude of  the  Oriental  is  all  but  incompre- 
hensible. But  comprehend  it  we  must,  so 
far  as  possible,  if  we  are  to  meet  it  with 
any  degree  of  success.  When  all  examples 
and  conversations  and  expectations  from 
childhood  include  the  fixed  idea  that  it  is 
a  meritorious  thing  to  feed  children  to 
crocodiles,  any  other  idea  becomes  un- 
thinkable. And  where  refusal  to  comply 
would  be  followed  by  compulsory  obedi- 
ence, why  resist  the  whole  social  order? 

Probably  there  is  little  or  no  thought  of 
resistance  or  escape.  The  victim  is  under 
a  "spell,"  and  this  spell  is  the  active  force 
in  fanaticism.  Just  what  is  this  weird  and 
dominant  obsession  that  dethrones  reason 
and  produces  the  blind  fury  of  the  dervish 
who  whirls  till  he  drops  dead? 

Unbalanced  Personality 

Normal  balance  of  personality  is  a  com- 
31 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

bination  of  many  factors,  each  of  which 
has  its  place.  Normal  conduct  results  from 
a  composite  of  motives  under  the  general 
dominance  of  judgment.  Beneath  the  sur- 
face of  volition  a  hundred  impulses  pull  at 
the  springs  of  conduct.  Every  act  is  the 
result  of  a  combination  of  motives.  All 
motives  are  mixed,  and  we  do  what  we  do 
because  a  hundred  unseen  hands  push  us 
out  into  the  sea  of  action.  And  the  saving 
grace  of  the  case  is  just  this  mixing  of 
motives.  Unblended  motives  are  always 
dangerous.  One-idea  men  are  always  fa- 
natics. Sanity  is  equilibrium,  and  only 
when  the  cargo  is  distributed  and  the 
strains  equalized  can  the  ship  remain  on 
an  even  keel. 

The  fanatic  is  the  man  who  has  lost  his 
equilibrator  and  plunges  recklessly,  ruled 
by  one  impulse  at  a  time.  The  complex  of 
the  single  impulsion  may  be  transient  or 
lasting,  but  it  is  one-idea  control.  Some 
impulse,  normally  secondary  and  subserv- 
ient, springs  into  the  driver's  seat  and 
throws  all  other  motives  overboard.  Un- 
reason, blind  intensity,  and  determination, 
wild  hatred  of  nonconformity,  loosened 
32 


PAGANISM  AND  FANATICISM 

forces  of  destruction  upon  friend  and  foe 
alike — these  are  the  traits  of  the  spirit  of 
fanaticism  that  the  missionary  must  meet, 
and  it  behooves  him  to  consider  well  his 
methods  of  approach  and  plans  of  cam- 
paign. 

Obviously,  the  first  thing  is  to  try  to 
understand  this  fanatic.  Is  he  moved  by 
blind  imitation,  or  by  wild  fear,  or  by  al- 
luring hopes  of  paradise,  or  by  material 
rewards  for  the  faithful,  or  by  political 
considerations,  or  by  dread  of  innovations, 
or  by  fear  of  a  system  of  Christian  ethics 
that  will  upset  the  social  order  and  make 
harems  and  illegitimate  families  impos- 
sible? 

The  cure  for  the  blind  and  unreasoning 
morale  of  the  fanatic  lies  in  the  equally 
vigorous  but  rational  and  spiritualized 
morale  of  the  missionary.  Like  the  de- 
votee, the  missionary  can  die  for  his  cause, 
if  need  be,  but  unlike  him,  he  can  also 
justify  his  course  by  highest  reason,  and 
he  can  win  men  instead  of  repelling  them. 
Over  and  above  all  else  rises  the  master 
spirit  of  the  Christian,  the  spirit  of  love 
enough  to  pay  the  last  price,  and  before 
33 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

this  spirit  of  love  the  morale  of  hate  must 
ever  fall  back  in  defeat.  It  is  slow  work, 
but  it  wins.  The  morale  of  fanaticism 
opposes  a  strong  barrier  to  the  progress  of 
the  new  Kingdom,  but  what  the  winds  of 
antagonism  cannot  blow  down  the  warmth 
of  loving  service  and  personal  interest  may 
melt  away  and  reveal  the  ultimate  founda- 
tions of  human  nature  bare  for  the  build- 
ing of  the  better  temple  of  God. 

It  is  recorded  that  "they  overcame"  be- 
cause "they  loved  not  their  lives  unto  the 
death."  The  morale  of  sacrifice  may  be- 
come the  highest  devotement  of  self  to  the 
supreme  cause,  and  the  glory  of  the  Chris- 
tian's martyrdom,  where  inevitable,  is  its 
triumphant  vindication  of  his  morale  and 
its  fruitful  results  in  a  quickened  church. 


34 


CHAPTER  IV 

SOLDIERS,  ATHLETES,  AND 
EXPLORERS 

Military  morale  has  come  to  a  new 
meaning  since  the  year  1914.  The  world 
has  learned  that  superb  equipment,  thor- 
ough training,  near-perfect  discipline,  and 
intelligent  command  could  not  stand  before 
hastily  gathered  and  imperfectly  equipped 
men  with  no  traditions  of  world  control, 
but  possessed  of  an  unconquerable  love  of 
freedom.  It  was  good  morale  that  made 
these  men  victors,  it  was  morale  that  sup- 
plied the  munitions  and  the  food  and  the 
labor  and  the  money  and  determination 
that  won  the  war.  Only  a  superb  morale 
could  have  raised  and  equipped  and  trans- 
ported and  believed  in  the  army  that  saved 
the  world  to  freedom. 

There  is  good  analogy  for  Paul's  figure 
of  the  Christian  soldier.  Fighting  and  mis- 
sionary service  are  alike  in  a  half  dozen 
particulars.  The  good  soldier  must  have  a 
35 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

great  cause  that  will  dominate  his  spirit,  or 
he  will  become  a  chronic  grumbler  and 
ultimately  a  defeated  man.  He  must  be 
conscious  of  vital  home  connections,  or  he 
will  lose  half  of  his  driving  power.  He 
must  possess  a  conviction  of  moral  values. 
Unless  he  feels  that  his  side  is  eternally 
right,  he  will  never  put  his  whole  energy 
into  his  work.  The  good  soldier  must  get 
the  social  swing  of  his  cause  and  be  one 
of  a  great  team.  He  must  be  subject  to 
hardship  and  monotony  and  drudgery.  A 
soldier  good  only  in  charges  is  a  dangerous 
defense.  And  while  most  soldiers  would 
disclaim  anything  like  spiritual  conscious- 
ness, men  under  terrible  pressure  come  to 
know  that  close  to  the  inferno  of  shot  and 
shell  lies  the  gateway  to  a  very  different 
world,  and  the  sense  of  the  unseen  has 
much  to  do  with  the  spirit  of  the  soldier. 

Morale  of  the  Athlete 

Athletic  coaches  of  the  universities  have 
made  an  intensive  study  of  student  morale. 
Training  camps  and  tables  and  rules  have 
built  up  a  set  of  sanctions  extremely  rigid 
in  form  and  inflexible  in  application.  \\  oe 
36 


SOLDIERS,  ATHLETES,  EXPLORERS 

to  the  lazy  or  gluttonous  or  selfish  member 
of  the  team  upon  which  the  honor  of  the 
school  depends.  If  he  fails  to  do  his  best, 
it  were  better  for  him  that  he  had  never 
crossed  the  campus  line.  For  the  honor  of 
the  team,  for  the  glory  of  the  university, 
for  the  standing  of  the  crew,  any  sacrifice 
seems  small  enough.  And  the  missionary 
who  cannot  get  the  spirit  of  team  play, 
with  all  its  implied  self-surrender  of  inde- 
pendence and  preference,  had  better  never 
have  been  sent.  "Solo  stunts"  are  small 
part  of  a  missionary's  program.  Loyalty 
to  the  staff,  the  mission,  the  field,  the 
church,  the  kingdom  is  worth  infinitely 
more  than  any  possible  personal  advantage 
to  be  gained  by  pushing  oneself  in  ahead 
of  the  larger  program.  Some  brilliant  mis- 
sionaries have  made  shipwreck  on  the  rock 
of  self-assertion  against  the  larger  interests 
of  the  whole  cause.  To  maintain  peace  in 
a  mission  let  every  worker  be  willing  for 
the  others  to  have  all  the  credit  for  all 
successes.  Under  this  rule  credit,  if  it 
have  any  value,  will  be  very  equitably  dis- 
tributed. There  will  be  glory  enough  for 
all  and  to  spare.  But  the  missionary  in- 
37 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

tent  upon  results  for  the  cause  will  not  be 
worrying  much  about  glory. 

The  Explorers 

After  all,  the  courage  required  of  a 
modern  missionary  is  a  mild  affair  com- 
pared with  the  tremendous  odds  faced  by 
the  men  who  first  sailed  around  the  world 
and  explored  the  south  seas.  Most  mod- 
ern missionaries  endure  no  grilling  hard- 
ships. It  might  be  better  if  they  did. 
Whatever  we  may  think  of  their  morals 
and  motives,  the  old  conquistador es  of  the 
New  World  faced  and  endured  such  diffi- 
culties and  deprivations  as  no  present-day 
missionary  is  called  upon  to  undergo.  It 
took  a  Columbus  to  "sail  on"  calmly  in  the 
face  of  insuperable  obstacles.  There  is 
room  for  more  of  that  splendid  spirit  of 
fearless  adventure  that  marked  the  great 
deeds  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies. 

The  Pizarros  in  Peru,  Cortez  in  Mexico, 
Magellan  in  the  Orient,  De  Soto  and  Ponce 
de  Leon,  and  all  the  rest,  on  down  to  the 
California  forty-niners  and  the  miners  of 
the  Rand  and  the  Klondyke,  every  one  of 
38 


SOLDIERS,  ATHLETES,  EXPLORERS 

them  possessed  courage  that  a  missionary 
may  well  study  and  learn  to  use  in  his  own 
efforts  to  explore  and  possess  the  moral 
and  social  world  for  his  Lord  and  Master. 
There  have  been  pioneers  and  pilgrims 
and  explorers  and  early  settlers  of  the  ever- 
receding  West.  They  have  wrought  and 
fought  and  died  for  gain  or  glory.  For  the 
proclamation  of  the  good  news  and  the 
establishment  of  the  everlasting  kingdom 
should  not  a  man  or  a  woman  go  forth  as 
valiantly  as  the  men  who  fought  and  risked 
their  all  for  sheer  greed  of  gold  and  love  of 
adventure? 


39 


CHAPTER  V 
JOHN  AND  PAUL 

The  greatest  textbook  on  morale  is  the 
Bible.  From  Enoch  to  John  on  Patmos, 
the  book  is  a  study  and  interpretation  of 
men  who  achieved  the  spirit  that  overcame 
the  world.  To  walk  with  these  men  is  to 
catch  their  tireless  stride  through  life.  Cer- 
tainly, the  inspiring  characters  of  the  book 
have  had  more  saving  power  than  contro- 
versies arising  over  more  didactic  portions. 
It  is  possible  to  misinterpret  metaphysics, 
it  is  rare  to  misunderstand  character. 

Of  all  the  noble  army  of  prophets, 
priests,  kings,  soldiers,  and  saints,  two  more 
fully  than  others  have  exposed  the  inner 
sources  of  their  power.  It  is  no  accident 
that  the  two  great  mystics  gave  us  nine- 
teen out  of  the  twenty-seven  books  of  the 
New  Testament;  and  the  influence  of  these 
men  on  the  thought  and  life  of  the  church 
has  been  in  proportion  to  the  space  they 
occupy  in  the  Christian  Scriptures. 
40 


JOHN  AND  PAUL 

John  the  Apostle 

Three  characteristics  of  John  are  per- 
tinent to  this  discussion.  John  was  by 
nature  intense.  Weaklings  do  not  try  to 
destroy  those  who  disagree  with  them. 
Such  natural  intensity  may  become  fa- 
naticism or  devotion.  Under  the  unfold- 
ing and  stimulating  power  of  a  strong 
affection  John  became  the  great  lover  of 
his  Lord  and  of  his  fellow  men.  When 
love  had  done  its  work  we  hear  no  more 
about  fire  from  heaven. 

The  wrath  of  consuming  fire  is  not  a 
foundation  for  permanent  missionary  work. 
If  a  man  love  God  enough,  the  glow  of  his 
devotion  will  burn  the  rancor  out  of  his 
heart,  and  leave  the  fine  gold  of  construc- 
tive affection. 

John  was  the  apostle  of  the  inner  fellow- 
ship. Following  Christ  was  for  him  an 
intensely  personal  matter.  To  love  Jesus 
was  the  same  thing  as  to  love  the  brethren. 
In  all  amazement  he  asks  how  a  man  could 
do  otherwise.  So  close  of  kin  are  the  two 
burning  passions  of  love  for  God  and  for 
men  that  John  became  a  little  ambiguous 
41 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

at  times  in  talking  about  them.  And 
when  a  man  loves  God  so  much  that  he 
cannot  clearly  distinguish  between  the 
love  he  has  for  his  Lord  and  that  for  his 
fellow  men,  he  is  not  far  from  the  spirit 
of  the  apostle  who  laid  his  head  on  Jesus 's 
breast. 

Utter  Certainty  of  Spiritual  Things 
In  his  utter  certainty  of  spiritual  things 
John  reaches  his  climax.  Where  lesser  men 
falter  John  walks  with  steady  stride. 
Where  others  wonder  and  conjecture,  John 
shouts  in  triumph,  "We  know.9'  There  is 
no  painful  speculation  with  John.  He  has 
his  problems  and  his  contacts  with  things 
beyond  human  understanding,  but  so  cer- 
tain is  he  of  the  eternal  realities  behind 
these  pageants  in  the  sky  that  he  just 
paints  the  undescribable  as  well  as  he  can, 
and  small  men  ever  since  have  been  trying 
to  force  mechanical  interpretations  upon 
John's  clouds  of  glory,  trailing  in  sublime 
mysteries  across  the  heavens. 

There  have  been  failures  on  the  mission 
fields,  but  they  have  not  come  from  too 
close  following  of  John. 
42 


JOHN  AND  PAUL 

Paul 

The  spiritual  attainments  of  Paul  involve 
much  more  than  the  experience  on  the 
Damascus  road.  Only  a  Saul  of  Tarsus 
could  have  become  a  Paul  through  that 
experience.  In  his  early  life  four  factors 
appear,  each  strongly  reflected  in  his  after 
years.  Any  man  with  these  elements  in 
his  life,  plus  the  heavenly  vision,  will  be  a 
good  missionary. 

1.  Saul  was  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews, 
with  a  spiritual  inheritance. 

2.  Saul  was  a  Roman  citizen,  with  a 
world  horizon. 

3.  Saul  was  educated  at  the  feet  of 
Gamaliel,  with  broad  intellectual  sym- 
pathies. 

4.  Saul  was  a  Pharisee  of  the  Pharisees, 
an  ecclesiastical  aristocrat. 

Elements  of  Background 

True,  all  of  these  things  were  counted 
as  of  no  value,  but  at  the  same  time  they 
remained  as  a  background  of  his  new  per- 
sonality and  thereafter  appear  as  spiritual 
capacity,  world  consciousness,  intellectual 
43 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

breadth,  and  high  idealism.  The  inspired 
and  ennobled  Paul  is  the  old  Saul  trans- 
formed and  lifted  to  his  highest  person- 
ality. 

There  are  few  elements  in  a  man's  back- 
ground that  may  not  become  useful  fac- 
tors of  his  emancipated  and  energized  self. 
Even  dark  chapters  of  degradation  have 
been  turned  to  account  and  the  most 
crooked  characteristics  have  been  purified 
and  transformed  into  useful  traits  in  a 
better  personality.  If  the  "son  of  thunder" 
and  the  bitter  persecutor  could  become  the 
two  greatest  men  of  a  century,  there  is 
hope  that  some  of  our  twisted  tendencies 
may  yet  be  turned  to  good  account.  How 
may  it  be  done? 

"An  Original  Experience  of  Christ" 
Paul  attributes  his  changed  life  to  a 
transformation  linked  with  a  revelation  of 
Christ  "in  me."  He  is  very  jealous  of  his 
apostleship  and  defends  it  in  no  uncertain 
terms.  "It  pleased  God  to  reveal  his  Son 
in  me,"  he  asserts.  This  sense  of  a  special 
revelation  never  leaves  him.  He  has  been 
made  custodian  of  a  heavenly  mystery  re- 
44 


JOHN  AND  PAUL 

vealed  to  men  through  himself,  and  if  he 
fails  to  proclaim  it,  the  world  will  lose  the 
message.  Any  man  who  goes  about  his 
work  feeling  like  that  will  attain  results 
not  to  be  accounted  for  by  training  or 
influence  or  equipment.  There  is  a  divine 
spirit  about  a  man  whose  heart  God  has 
touched.  He  is  different.  His  words  and 
walk  will  speak  in  clear  tones  and  men 
will  know  what  the  Spirit  said  to  him  in 
the  secret  place.  God  has  made  a  con- 
fidant of  him  and  he  must  proclaim  his 
message  or  perish.    There  is  no  alternative. 

Personal  Identity  with  Christ 

Paul  came  to  an  intense  consciousness 
that  "for  me  to  live  is  Christ."  Not  like 
Christ,  but  Christ  in  him.  Mysticism 
could  go  no  further.  Christ  walked,  talked, 
thought,  spoke,  and  worked  in  Paul.  What 
a  morale  for  a  missionary!  It  was  no 
figure  of  speech.  Whether  on  the  burning 
sands  of  the  desert,  or  on  the  trackless  sea, 
or  amid  a  Judsean  mob,  Christ  was  in  him, 
and  in  this  consciousness  all  toil,  danger, 
hardship,  hunger,  fatigue,  and  torture  fade 
away  into  mere  trifles  of  the  passing  hour. 
45 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

Christ  is  suffering  these  things  with  him, 
and  they  are  not  worth  mentioning. 

The  secret  of  Paul's  tremendous  life  and 
labors  is  not  Paul's  polemic,  but  Paul.  As 
glorious  California  Shasta  rises  above  the 
foothills  at  its  feet,  Paul  rises  majestically 
above  his  own  arguments.  The  man  him- 
self is  the  one  transcendent  argument  for 
whatever  made  him  what  he  is.  And  when 
he  throws  the  whole  weight  of  his  illumi- 
nated personality  on  the  scales  of  life  there 
must  be  a  registering  of  results  in  every 
life  that  feels  the  impact  of  the  man. 
Persecutions  and  martyrdom  are  mere  de- 
tails in  a  life  scheme  that  counted  not  any 
cost  if  by  any  means  he  might  win  some 
to  the  Christ  who  had  transformed  him. 
It  is  not  strange  that  such  a  personality 
made  the  most  profound  impression  ever 
registered  on  human  hearts  by  any  man. 

Sense  of  the  Unseen 

Both  John  and  Paul  have  an  overwhelm- 
ing sense  of  the  unseen.  They  are  always 
conscious  of  an  in-crowding  universe,  far 
transcending  the  limits  of  human  speech. 
When  a  man  has  seen  and  heard  the  in- 
46 


JOHN  AND  PAUL 

visible  and  the  unutterable,  life  can  never 
again  be  a  matter  of  picking  and  choosing 
what  may  be  most  agreeable  and  least 
difficult.  No  hour  can  be  idled  away. 
Every  moment  is  precious  that  may,  by 
even  a  little,  further  the  business  of  a  life 
dedicated  to  the  unfinished  task  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

With  both  these  men  mysticism  rises 
steadily  through  the  years  with  a  growing 
experience  of  eternal  values.  At  last  this 
spiritual  realism  floods  all  thought,  colors 
every  motive,  controls  every  act,  domi- 
nates the  whole  self.  It  is  not  rhapsody, 
it  is  conscious  experience  when  Paul  ex- 
claims, "For  me  to  live  is  Christ."  For 
such  men  "all  things  are  possible"  because 
they  "can  do  all  things  through  Christ." 
Their  God  is  always  able  to  supply  all 
their  need.  All  things  are  theirs  and  there 
is  a  Grace  that  is  always  all-sufficient.  All 
things  work  together  for  good  because  they 
love  God,  and  they  have  all  and  abound. 
There  is  no  lack  nor  limit  to  the  all- 
sufficiency  of  Him  whose  they  are  and 
whom  they  serve. 

Further  than  this  it  is  not  possible  for  a 
47 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

human  being  to  go  in  utter  identification 
with  his  Lord.  And  for  any  man  who 
attains  this  life  that  is  hid  with  Christ  in 
God,  little  needs  to  be  said  about  the 
morale  of  the  missionary.  Such  a  man 
becomes  his  own  standard. 

Christ  for  the  World 

Growing  out  of  this  sense  of  identity 
with  Christ  follows  naturally  enough  the 
conviction  that  only  Christ  is  sufficient  for 
the  needs  of  the  world.  There  is  no  cure 
for  a  very  sick  humanity.  To  make  men 
know  him  and  the  power  of  his  resurrec- 
tion is  the  one  business  before  which  all 
other  issues  of  life  fade  and  are  forgotten. 
When  such  a  man  speaks  other  men  must 
listen  and  thereafter  be  divided.  We  can- 
not dissect  the  morale  of  John  or  Paul, 
God  forbid,  but  we  may  sit  at  their  feet 
and  learn  very  much  from  men  who  have 
been  with  Christ  and  can  tell  us  about  him. 

It  Takes  Time 

No  missionary  can  attain  to  his  own 
measure  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  a  month 
or  a  year.    Neither  Paul  nor  John  reached 

48 


JOHN  AND  PAUL 

their  Delectable  Mountains  at  once.  But 
as  the  path  climbs,  the  air  clears  and  the 
horizon  recedes  until  clearer  vision  brings 
better  understanding. 

It  is  required  first  that  a  man  be  found 
traveling  in  the  pathway  that  leads  on 
toward  the  heights;  and  if  he  faints  not 
by  the  way,  in  due  time  he  shall  attain. 
Even  to  acquire  a  little  of  the  stature  of 
these  spiritual  giants  is  to  solve  most  of 
the  problems  of  a  missionary's  life.  Such 
men  as  these  in  any  age  will  dominate  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  world.  The  modern 
missionary  who  can  find  the  springs  from 
which  these  men  drank,  and  draw  from 
them,  may  influence  profoundly  that  part 
of  the  world  assigned  to  him  as  his  spiritual 
inheritance. 


49 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  CALL  AND  THE  TASK 

If  the  most  determinative  factor  in  a 
missionary's  life  is  his  own  personality, 
then  the  years  of  preparation  should  in- 
clude some  attention  to  the  development 
of  effective  morale.  There  are  things  that 
a  candidate  should  know  before  he  be- 
comes a  missionary. 

We  are  now  well  away  from  the  idea 
that  all  the  eager  volunteer  needs  is  to 
hear  a  "call"  and  forthwith  arise  and  go, 
trusting  to  such  support  and  success  as 
"the  Lord  may  be  pleased  to  send."  All 
too  evidently  some  of  these  "calls"  have 
been  but  queer  noises  in  the  night,  much 
misunderstood. 

Why  Does  a  Missionary  Go? 

Why  is  a  missionary?     What  motives 

lead  men  and  women  to  exile  themselves 

and  readjust  their  lives  at  every  personal 

and  social  point  of  contact?    Why  should 

50 


THE  CALL  AND  THE  TASK 

an  adult  who  has  once  established  a  basis 
of  life  begin  all  over  again  and  provide 
himself  a  complete  working  equipment,  in- 
cluding his  clothing,  house,  friends,  food, 
working  habits,  comforts,  recreations,  and 
even  speech  and  social  sanctions?  Any 
adequate  mastery  of  a  new  language  means 
almost  a  recasting  of  the  habits  of  thought. 

The  objections  to  such  conduct  have 
been  fully  stated.  Every  candidate  meets 
some  of  them.  In  some  form  comes  the 
suggestion  that  he  is  doing  a  foolish  and 
futile  and  perhaps  an  insane  thing.  That 
many  turn  back  is  not  strange.  The  mar- 
vel is  that  anyone  goes,  and  stranger  still 
are  long  lives,  wholly  and  unflinchingly  de- 
voted to  such  service  regardless  of  every 
sacrifice  involved. 

Why  do  they  do  it?  At  least  five  factors 
appear  in  the  making  of  such  decisions. 

1.  Romance 

The  romance  of  foreign  missionary  work 
makes  a  strong  appeal  to  people  whose 
imaginations  have  been  touched  by  the 
stories  of  the  heroes  and  martyrs  and 
leaders  whose  lives  have  laid  "foundations 
51 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

for  Christian  empires."  To  help  establish 
a  new  earth  and  cause  a  light  to  shine 
among  the  darkened  nations  is  a  wonderful 
thing.  And  some  sense  of  the  romantic  is 
a  good  thing.  God  pity  the  people  who 
have  none  of  it. 

2.  Travel 

Not  always  consciously  separated  from 
other  factors  is  a  desire  to  travel  and  "see 
the  world."  The  wanderlust  is  born  in 
some  people  and  drives  them  about  the 
earth  restlessly  searching  for  some  new 
thing.  Missionaries  who  have  been  in- 
fluenced much  by  this  love  of  adventure 
are  apt  to  shift  about  much  and  never 
continue  long  in  one  stay.  And  their  lives 
are  not  often  large  dividend-payers  for  the 
Kingdom.  Unless  some  deeper  motive  than 
this  actuates  men  to  a  decision  for  foreign 
mission  service  their  contribution  will  not 
be  very  valuable. 

3.  The  Personal  Touch 

Perhaps  the  personal  touch  influences  as 
many  people  as  any  other  motive.  They 
have   come   to   know   some   foreign   mis- 

52 


THE  CALL  AND  THE  TASK 

sionary  and  have  listened  to  his  stories, 
read  his  letters,  followed  his  work,  and 
through  his  life  have  been  thrilled  with 
the  impulse  to  go  and  do  likewise.  This 
motive  is  valid  and  accounts  for  more  life 
decisions  than  can  be  traced  directly 
thereto.  Most  human  decisions  are  made 
on    largely    personal    grounds. 

4.  Fruitful  Life  Investment 

A  reasoned  desire  to  invest  one's  life  as 
fruitfully  as  possible,  and  a  conviction  that 
mission  work  shows  the  greatest  discrep- 
ancy between  need  and  supply  of  workers, 
has  brought  many  a  candidate  to  the  point 
of  offering  himself  for  such  service  as  he 
could  best  render.  When  one  considers 
the  pitifully  small  supply  of  workers  at 
home  and  in  foreign  fields,  the  challenge 
of  the  unmet  needs  of  the  non-Christian 
world  constitutes  a  sight  draft  on  the  best 
that  any  man  has  to  give  to  the  most  far- 
reaching  and  fundamental  task  ever  com- 
mitted to  men. 

5.  A  Direct  Call 

There  is  a  call  to  missionary  service  to 
53 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

be  accounted  for  by  none  of  these  factors. 
Not  every  missionary  has  had  such  an 
impulsion,  but  many  have  been  conscious 
of  an  inner  urge  that  rang  in  their  souls 
like  the  ceaseless  surge  of  the  surf  on  the 
shore.  A  man  may  get  to  the  field  with- 
out such  a  call,  and  he  may  become  a  good 
missionary  on  the  basis  of  his  desire  to 
serve.  But  for  him  on  whose  spirit  the 
mantle  has  fallen  there  are  but  two  courses 
possible.  He  may  follow  the  voice  or  he 
may  turn  a  deaf  ear  and  face  a  crippled 
and  relatively  fruitless  life. 

When  a  man  or  a  woman  has  this  fire  in 
the  bones  there  is  no  peace  until  the  ques- 
tion is  settled  and  the  life  is  aligned  with 
the  call.  The  marked  soul  may  struggle, 
but  there  will  be  no  peace.  He  reads  of 
the  sailing  of  a  party  of  missionaries  for 
their  fields,  and  spends  a  sleepless  night 
and  a  wretched  week.  He  reads  of  mis- 
sionary plans  and  projects  and  goes  about 
like  a  condemned  man  because  he  has  no 
part  in  it.  On  all  sides  news  items,  mis- 
sionary meetings,  chance  remarks,  returned 
missionaries  themselves,  rise  up  to  meet 
him  and  in  the  night  his  accusing  con- 
54 


THE  CALL  AND  THE  TASK 

science  haunts  his  dreams.     O  wretched 
man  that  he  is  until  the  question  is  settled ! 

The  Best  Missionaries 

Who  make  the  best  missionaries?  The 
called  or  the  chosen?  Those  who  are 
stricken  down  by  the  great  impulsion  or 
those  who  face  the  issue  and  deliberately 
decide  to  put  their  lives  into  the  great 
cause? 

The  best  missionaries  are  those  who 
make  adequate  preparation  and  then  go  to 
the  field  and  stay  there,  rendering  efficient 
service  throughout  the  years  allotted  to 
them.  Some  of  the  great  leaders  had  dis- 
tinct calls  and  some  never  had  a  conscious 
call  other  than  their  desire  to  serve  most 
effectively. 

A  missionary  call  is  like  any  other  call 
of  God  to  a  human  life.  It  may  be  the 
trumpet  tones  or  the  earthquake  shock  that 
upsets  a  man's  life  to  get  his  attention.  It 
may  be  the  inner  whisper  of  a  loving 
Presence,  or  it  may  be  the  granting  of  a 
burning  desire  to  go  into  all  the  world  and 
receive  a  kingdom.  The  final  test  is  the 
result  of  a  man's  life.  If  with  the  heavenly 
55 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

light  anyone  hear  His  Voice  in  a  focused 
command,  let  him  not  be  disobedient  unto 
the  heavenly  vision,  or  he  may  go  through 
life  blind.  But  if  no  such  flash  or  command 
is  experienced,  let  him  not  turn  aside  from 
a  desire  to  go  out  and  do  a  man's  full  share 
of  the  task  left  us  by  our  Lord.  Interest  in 
missionary  work  and  desire  to.  do  one's 
part  may  be  as  valid  a  call  as  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  coming  in  a  dream  by  night,  or 
the  restless  "Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the 
gospel." 


56 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  MISSIONARY  IN  THE 
MAKING 

What  Shall  the  Candidate  Do? 

A  missionary's  life  is  not  a  checking  off 
on  a  round  of  daily  duties ;  neither  should  a 
candidate  be  advised  and  instructed  and 
exhorted  to  death.  Too  much  rule-making 
in  advance  kills  the  spirit  of  service.  The 
good  missionary  must  be  a  man  or  woman 
able  to  make  rules  and  change  them  over- 
night if  need  be.  There  are  plenty  of 
advisers  competent  to  prescribe  curricula 
and  mental  calisthenics.  The  serious  can- 
didate obviously  will  get  the  best  mental 
equipment  possible.  He  will  accumulate 
discipline  and  information  and  ideals,  he 
will  make  a  beginning  on  the  language  of 
his  field,  he  will  cultivate  acquaintance 
with  every  missionary  he  can  reach. 

The  candidate  will  begin  his  missionary 
work  with  the  people  about  him,  which 
57 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

does  not  mean  that  he  will  be  constantly 
preaching  to  his  patient  friends.  But  he 
must  get  his  personal  influence  into  action. 
If  he  cannot  do  effective  work  with  people 
of  his  own  race  and  kind,  and  whose  speech 
he  understands,  what  can  he  hope  to  do 
with  aliens  and  strangers,  speaking  an  un- 
known tongue  and  possessing  not  even 
ideals  to  comprehend  what  he  would  teach? 

What  Is  Candidate  Morale? 

A  candidate  should  maintain  wholesome 
and  positive  relations  with  life  at  as  many 
points  as  possible.  Normality  far  out- 
weighs eccentricity  as  foundation  on  which 
to  build  effective  missionary  morale.  One's 
contacts  with  life  must  be  kept  in  good 
working  order,  or  he  is  apt  to  hear  some 
mixed  voices.  Human  contacts  are  vital, 
since  all  effective  output  of  life  goes  over 
those  connections.  If  the  man  fails  here, 
there  will  be  no  useful  result,  no  matter 
what  qualifications  he  may  possess.  It  is 
useless  to  try  to  be  a  missionary  unless  one 
can  make  friends  with  almost  everybody. 
There  are  a  few  intense  people  who  gather 
a  very  small  circle  of  friends  (sometimes  a 
58 


MISSIONARY  IN  THE  MAKING 

"circle"  of  but  two  or  three  people)  and 
exclude  the  rest  of  the  world.  Let  all  such 
broaden  their  fellowships  or  stay  at  home. 
Wholesomeness  affords  the  only  per- 
manent basis  of  missionary  personality. 
Hermits,  people  afflicted  with  "piousity," 
and  moody  souls  have  no  place  among 
missionaries.  Missionary  conditions  are 
too  straight  to  allow  room  for  up-and- 
down  folks  who  cannot  yield  in  nonessen- 
tials. Verily,  some  good  fellows  and  social 
desirables  and  college  leaders  shall  enter 
into  the  Kingdom  before  such  tempera- 
mental aspirants. 

The  Gift  That  Is  Within 

The  good  candidate  may  well  stir  up 
the  gift  that  is  within  him,  no  matter  what 
that  gift  may  be.  Chalk-talks,  furniture- 
making,  farming,  shop  work,  trades,  slight- 
of-hand,  photography,  histrionics,  poetry, 
and  entomology — these  and  a  hundred 
other  "gifts"  have  high  usefulness.  It  is 
not  so  much  a  matter  of  what  one  can  do  as 
that  he  may  be  able  really  to  do  something 
and  do  it  well. 

Many  triumphs  of  the  missionary's  work 
59 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

have  been  the  products  of  skill  in  some 
trade  or  hobby  peculiar  to  some  worker 
who  found  an  emergency  and  used  his  gift 
to  meet  it. 

One  business-loving  missionary  organ- 
ized a  credit  association  among  Christian 
merchants  and  carried  them  through  a 
crisis  when  heathen  shopkeepers  failed  on 
every  hand. 

A  militant  missionary  slew  tigers  in  his 
territory  and  brought  men  by  thousands 
to  hear  the  gospel  from  the  man  who  had 
saved  their  lives. 

A  vigorous  propagandist  ferreted  out 
opium  joints,  smashed  them  to  bits,  and 
spread  ruin  and  devastation  about  the 
premises.  He  brought  the  guilty  to  their 
knees  and  after  inaugurating  law  and 
order,  later  established  a  church. 

A  skilled  organizer  got  control  of  a  tract 
of  land  and  placed  a  thousand  starving 
famine  refugees  on  modern  farms  and  made 
them  self-supporting  as  the  first  installment 
of  an  agricultural  scheme  that  began  to 
revolutionize  the  lives  of  several  millions 
of  people. 

It  was  a  medical  missionary  who  enter- 
60 


MISSIONARY  IN  THE  MAKING 

tained  a  passing  pilgrim  by  curing  his 
fever,  filling  his  tooth,  mending  his  watch, 
repairing  the  lock  on  his  traveling  chest, 
adjusting  his  eyeglasses,  cutting  his  hair, 
and  finding  guides  for  his  journey.  When 
the  traveler  departed  he  left  the  missionary 
making  a  wooden  leg  for  a  man  whose  limb 
he  had  amputated  three  months  before. 

One  man  left  a  career  as  an  engineer  for 
mission  service,  but  in  the  siege  of  Peking 
saved  the  lives  of  the  impounded  foreigners 
by  organizing  effective  defenses. 

A  mechanical  genius  installed  an  electric 
outfit  on  his  automobile  and  operated  a 
moving-picture  machine  with  which  he 
showed  Bible  films  at  night  and  induced 
thousands  to  buy  Gospels  as  the  price  of 
admittance. 

A  trained  nurse  established  a  dispensary 
in  a  leper  village  and  thereby  won  many  to 
righteousness. 

A  young  architect  relinquished  with  re- 
gret a  promising  career  at  his  drafting 
board  to  become  a  missionary.  Pagan  op- 
position cut  off  self-support,  whereupon  he 
opened  a  school  in  architecture  and  brought 
in  a  group  of  young  men  for  intensive 
61 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

training,  while  the  earnings  supported  the 
work.  Thus  was  founded  one  of  the 
unique  missions  of  the  Orient. 

It  was  a  young  man  with  a  gift  for  ex- 
pression who  became  the  social  bright  spot 
for  many  a  dreary  evening  in  a  mission 
station. 

A  host  of  singers  and  players  have 
charmed  away  the  evil  spirits  of  loneliness 
and  discouragement  till  all  the  world 
seemed  brighter  and  better — and  it  was. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  artists  and 
hand-workers  and  singers  and  players  and 
embroiderers  and  engineers  and  stock- 
raisers  and  storekeepers  and  bookkeepers 
and  preachers  and  teachers  and  editors 
and  printers  and  blacksmiths  and  carpen- 
ters and  medicine-mixers  and  business 
managers  and  dentists  and  gardeners  and 
scientific  explorers,  and  all  the  hosts  of 
others  who  have  used  their  own  particular 
gifts  that  by  all  means  they  might  save 
some? 

All  of  which  has  to  do  with  the  attitude 
of  mind  of  the  candidate  and  the  prepara- 
tion for  his  life  service.  Of  all  men,  the 
missionary  is  the  last  to  suppose  that  he 
62 


MISSIONARY  IN  THE  MAKING 

should  be  a  recluse,  a  "man  apart,"  a 
specialist  in  solemnity,  a  superior  being  set 
for  an  ensample  to  be  consulted.  He  is 
first  and  last  a  man  among  other  men, 
and  given  the  reserves  and  backgrounds 
of  devotion  and  intelligence,  like  his  divine 
Lord,  will  do  his  best  work  when  he  goes 
eating  and  drinking  among  his  people,  al- 
ways one  of  them  that  he  may  win  some 
of  them  to  something  better  than  himself. 

Five  Essentials  to  Success 

Five  things  are  essential  to  success.  The 
effective  worker  must  know  himself  and 
understand  something  of  his  own  capacity 
and  limitations.  Otherwise  he  will  fight 
the  air  with  futile  gestures. 

He  should  know  people.  Humanity  is 
still  the  proper  study  of  the  man  who  is 
to  devote  his  life  to  the  remaking  of  human 
nature.  All  the  humanities,  philosophy, 
sociology,  biology,  and  any  other  'ology 
that  deals  with  living  people  are  worth 
while. 

He  should  know  enough  history  and 
philosophy  to  get  a  broad  background  for 
his  thinking. 

63 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

He  should  know  his  Bible,  for,  after  all, 
his  message  is  in  and  of  the  Book,  and 
unless  he  can  teach  it  effectively  he  will 
wander  about  the  field  of  morals  and 
ethics  and  establish  no  abiding  city  of 
character. 

He  should  know,  above  all  else,  his 
Lord  and  Master,  for  Paul  asserts  that, 
compared  with  this  understanding,  all 
other  learning  is  but  foolishness. 


64 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  FEW  WHO  ARE  CHOSEN 

There  is  a  vast  discrepancy  between  the 
number  of  young  people  who  at  some  time 
and  in  some  way  volunteer  for  missionary 
service  and  the  very  different  number  who 
finally  get  to  the  field.  And  there  is  yet  a 
different  figure  for  those  who  stay  on  the 
work  after  they  arrive. 

The  Many  Called 

In  a  general  way,  out  of  fifty  persons 
who  are  "called"  sufficiently  to  express  in 
some  way  an  interest  and  state  a  desire  to 
enter  missionary  service,  about  thirty- 
eight  will  drop  out  and  the  remaining 
dozen  will  enroll  as  candidates.  Four  of 
these  will  withdraw  their  names,  four  more 
will  drop  out  as  soon  as  any  definite  work 
is  offered  them,  and  of  the  remaining  four 
one  will  drop  out  at  the  last  moment,  one 
will  return  at  or  before  the  end  of  the  first 
65 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

term  of  service,  one  will  leave  the  field  for 
a  time  and  later  enter  some  other  mission 
field,  and  the  last  one  will  settle  down,  an 
increasing  success  as  the  years  go  by. 

What  are  the  causes  of  this  enormous 
shrinkage?  Many  impulsive  people 
promptly  reconsider  when  a  definite  offer 
is  made.  To  offer  one's  life  for  service  is 
such  a  beautiful  thing  to  do,  and  brings 
admiring  and  sympathizing  friends  who 
offer  hearty  good  wishes  at  the  rally 
services.  It  is  fine  to  be  a  sacrifice  on 
the  missionary  altar  so  long  as  the  altar 
is  in  the  dim  distance  and  the  service  in 
the  remote  future. 

Many  candidates  have  not  the  slightest 
idea  as  to  what  is  required  of  them  as  can- 
didates, or  will  be  expected  of  them  on 
the  field.  Occasionally  there  is  friction  in 
the  candidate's  family  that  works  against 
good  intentions.  And  in  nearly  all  failures 
there  is  preeminently  failure  to  attain  the 
"missionary  spirit,"  which  is  nothing  more 
or  less  than  morale.  Certainly,  something 
more  than  rapture  and  good  intentions  is 
required  to  make  an  effective  missionary. 
The  present  ratio  of  those  who  fail  to  con- 
66 


THE  FEW  WHO  ARE  CHOSEN 

nect  with  a  definite  task  bears  distressing 
resemblance  to  the  biological  ratios  of 
survival. 

Probably  no  work  is  more  underesti- 
mated than  that  of  the  missionary.  Psy- 
chological tests  cannot  determine  the 
ultimate  reactions  of  men  to  their  work, 
but  they  can  determine  something  of  the 
quality  of  raw  material  with  which  the 
training  processes  begin.  And  any  effec- 
tive training  must  include  those  personal 
and  inspirational  factors  that  develop  the 
highest  morale. 

Before  a  missionary  can  become  a  leader 
of  other  men  he  must  come  to  some  rich- 
ness and  satisfactory  spiritual  experience  in 
his  own  life.  He  must  have  a  foundation 
in  a  good  stomach  and  steady  nerves  and 
sound  lungs.  He  must  have  training  and 
adaptability.  He  must  possess  a  sense  of 
order,  a  capacity  for  consecutive  action,  a 
power  to  plan  and  then  carry  out  the  plan 
to  its  proper  terminal.  Some  very  capable 
men  have  almost  canceled  their  output  by 
their  inability  to  run  on  one  track  for  any 
length  of  time.  "One  poor  plan  is  better 
than  three  good  ones." 
67 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

The  missionary  will  properly  enough  re- 
sent the  imputation  that  he  is  a  peculiar 
person  in  a  class  by  himself.  If  he  is  pe- 
culiar, the  world  will  find  it  out  soon 
enough  without  reference  to  his  calling.  A 
man's  residual  self  will  work  its  way  to  the 
surface  regardless  of  imposing  appearances 
and  high-sounding  introductions.  Inevit- 
ably, and  sometimes  tragically,  his  inner 
self  will  appear  projected  on  the  screen  of 
his  conduct  and  attitude  toward  life.  The 
strains  of  mission  work  certainly  will  strip 
away  all  artificialities  and  leave  the  naked 
soul  face  to  face  with  raw  humanity. 

What  Makes  the  Missionary 

Allowing  for  individual  variations  and 
adaptabilities,  here  are  a  few  characteris- 
tics that  ought  to  appear  in  some  degree 
in  the  personal  repertoire  of  every  mis- 
sionary. 

Capacity  for  Isolation.  A  missionary  is  a 
long  way  from  his  own  kind  of  people,  and 
if  he  cannot  come  to  be  at  home  with  his 
work  he  will  die  at  heart.  To  be  a  friend 
of  strangers  and  at  the  same  time  be 
content  to  live  a  lonely  life  is  not  always 
68 


THE  FEW  WHO  ARE  CHOSEN 

easy.    He  must  be  in  good  company  when 
alone. 

Hobby  Riding.  No  man  can  spend  all 
his  waking  hours  at  one  task.  The  relaxa- 
tion of  a  good  hobby  adds  to  a  man's 
morale  by  saving  him  from  the  dizzy  dis- 
tortion of  the  one  idea.  It  matters  little 
what  the  hobby  may  be — insect-collecting, 
photography,  horticulture,  floriculture, 
touring,  tennis,  or  trombone- tooting;  but 
if  the  avocation  can  have  some  indirect 
relation  to  the  day's  work,  there  may  be 
great  gain  thereby  at  times.  One  Oriental 
missionary  experimented  for  years  in  bud- 
ding American  fruits  onto  native  branches 
and  at  last  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
the  Chinese  steal  the  buds  from  his  trees 
that  they  might  grow  them  in  their  own 
gardens. 

Sense  of  Humor 

Mere  joking  has  its  value  as  a  social 
sauce,  but  for  the  missionary  humor  has  a 
far  more  important  function  than  that  of 
making  people  giggle.  A  working  sense  of 
humor  is  one  of  the  prime  elements  of 
saving  grace.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  laugh- 
69 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

ing  because  to  laugh  is  pleasant.  It  is  a 
question  of  one's  whole  attitude  toward 
life. 

Humor  brings  relief  from  tension  and 
allows  the  overstrained  personality  to  re- 
turn to  normal  appraisals  again. 

Humor  clears  the  air  for  a  new  start, 
and  breaks  the  groundings  of  the  circuits 
of  normality. 

Humor  is  the  balance  wheel  of  per- 
sonality. No  man  with  a  keen  sense  of 
the  ludicrous  can  take  himself  more  seri- 
ously than  he  ought  to  take,  or  think  of 
himself  too  highly.    How  could  he? 

Humor  is  the  "measure  of  a  man's  mar- 
gin." Humor  calls  out  the  reserves  of 
sanity,  when  the  air  becomes  obscured  by 
the  blue  haze  of  discouragement  or  the 
red  glare  of  indignation. 

Humor  opens  the  closed  shutters  of  the 
soul  and  lets  in  again  the  sunshine  of  good 
nature. 

There  are  elements  of  morale  that  a 
missionary  can  get  along  without,  but 
humor  is  not  one  of  them. 

The  list  of  qualifications  required  in  an 
available  candidate  is  now  pretty  definitely 
70 


THE  FEW  WHO  ARE  CHOSEN 

ascertained.  A  board  may  occasionally  re- 
ject some  candidate  who  may  eventually 
make  good  when  given  a  chance,  but  the 
established  rules  of  procedure  have  the 
backing  of  a  century  of  experience,  and  a 
comparison  of  results  attained  by  the  ap- 
proved candidates  of  the  regular  Mission 
Boards  and  the  self-appointed  missionaries 
sent  out  independently,  establishes  the 
soundness  of  the  accepted  principles  of 
selection. 

Dr.  Arthur  J.  Brown,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board,  mentions  the  accepted  qualifications 
of  the  available  candidate  in  the  following 
order: 

1.  Health,  given  first  place  because  fun- 
damental. 

2.  Age,  25  to  33  years,  with  exceptions. 

3.  Education,  varying  according  to  class 
of  service. 

4.  Executive  ability  and  force  of  charac- 
ter. More  needed  than  in  work  in  the 
home  land. 

5.  Common  sense.  (Might  be  put  next 
to  health  in  order  of  importance.) 

6.  Steadiness  of  purpose.  To  carry  on 
after  the  halo  has  faded. 

71 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

7.  Temperament,  adaptability,  relia- 
bility, amiability — in  short,  unselfishness. 
A  missionary  should  at  least  be  a  gentle- 
man. 

8.  Doctrinal  views.  Conformity  to  ac- 
cepted views,  without  surrender  of  private 
judgment. 

9.  Marriage,  an  important  factor  in  ad- 
justment of  work. 

10.  Freedom  from  financial  obligations. 
A  mission  field  is  not  a  place  to  pay  debts 
or  lay  up  bank  accounts. 

11.  Christian  character  and  experience, 
without  which  all  else  must  register  but 
failure.  (See  full  discussion  of  these  and 
other  essentials  in  The  Foreign  Missionary, 
by  Dr.  Brown.) 

Enemies  of  Morale 

There  are  certain  well-defined  forces 
that  weed  out  new  missionaries  at  an 
alarming  rate.  To  locate  and  appraise 
these  in  advance  is  to  be  forearmed 
against  their  influence. 

Monotony  saps  the  vitality  and  endur- 
ance of  people  who  live  more  or  less  in  the 
enthusiasms  of  change  and  excitement. 
72 


THE  FEW  WHO  ARE  CHOSEN 

There  will  be  little  enough  of  monotony 
in  a  mission  field  where  the  missionary  is 
alive  to  the  unfailing  interests  and  reac- 
tions of  native  life.  And  with  a  forward- 
moving  program  of  mission  work  nothing 
is  more  interesting  than  the  unfolding  of 
life  under  the  influence  of  spiritual  stimuli. 

Routine  drudgery  does  its  deadly  work 
or  it  becomes  a  blessing  as  indicated  in 
the  discussion  of  "discipline,"  elsewhere  in 
this  book.  "If  something  would  only  blow 
up,"  exclaimed  a  tired  toiler.  From  a  far 
interior  point  came  a  veteran  missionary 
to  a  seaport.  She  deposited  her  baggage 
in  the  mission  house  and  exclaimed, 
"Where  is  the  best  moving  picture  show 
in  town?" 

Aimlessness,  lack  of  definite  objective, 
general  pottering  about  destroy  more  mis- 
sionary usefulness  than  pestilence. 


73 


CHAPTER  IX 

ARTIFICIAL  MORALE 

There  is  a  general  conviction  that  pub- 
lic spirit  and  personal  enthusiasm  can  be 
produced  at  will  by  certain  well-defined 
and  established  propaganda  methods  guar- 
anteed to  cure  listless  student  bodies,  inert 
campaigns,  and  mechanical-mindedness. 

Propaganda  Methods 

These  regulation  promotion  policies  have 
a  certain  value.  They  seem  to  accomplish 
much.  The  galvanized  social  nervous  sys- 
tem responds  to  the  programs  and  parades 
and  rallies  and  rousements  and  bonfires 
and  brass  bands,  and  the  amused  citizens 
and  soldiers  and  students  listen  to  the 
fervid  exhortations  of  yell  leaders,  recruit- 
ing agents,  or  four-minute  men,  and  con- 
sider that  more  zeal  really  ought  to  be 
shown  for  the  cause.  For  the  current 
hour  it  looks  as  if  something  had  been 
done. 

74 


ARTIFICIAL  MORALE 

The  next  week  is  very  apt  to  find  mat- 
ters about  where  they  were  before  the 
pressure  was  laid  on.  Highest  morale  is 
unconscious  and  arises  as  the  result  of 
forces  that  work  within  us  reactions  the 
more  effective  because  unpremeditated. 

All  genuine  morale  bears  a  touch  of 
mysticism,  an  element  of  the  spontaneous 
that  acts  like  a  spark  amid  the  tinder  and 
starts  a  blaze.  The  quality  of  the  flame 
will  depend  upon  the  kind  of  fuel  the  fire 
finds  ready.  It  takes  an  immense  amount 
of  effort  to  start  a  fire  by  sheer  friction, 
the  direct  propaganda  way.  Some  great 
shock,  some  mighty  appeal,  some  steady 
discipline  will  kindle  a  fire  directly,  and 
the  fire  will  burn  on  as  long  as  there  is 
anything  to  feed  the  flame. 

Staying  Power 

In  the  end  it  is  staying  that  wins.  Early 
in  the  world  war  the  French  soldier  as- 
serted that  he  was  the  bravest  soldier  in 
the  world,  but  the  British  soldier  claimed 
to  be  brave  fifteen  minutes  longer  than 
any  other  fighter. 

If  good  morale  were  merely  shouting  and 
75 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

flag  waving,  we  could  soon  finish  the  cam- 
paign. Some  machine  might  be  devised 
that  would  cry  aloud  and  trail  bunting  in 
the  air.  Experience  proves,  however,  that 
some  great  effervescers  are  poor  mission- 
aries, and  it  has  been  known  that  popular 
home  platform  men  have  themselves  con- 
stituted problems  on  the  mission  field. 
Morale  is  not  fireworks.  It  is  not  en- 
thusiasm. It  may  be  noisy  at  times  and 
it  may  be  very  quiet.  Good  morale  is  the 
spirit  that  goes  steadily  on  with  the  work 
regardless  of  wind  and  weather.  Good 
morale  plans  and  prays  and  labors  and 
waits  on  till  the  end.  Good  morale  plows 
and  plants,  waits  for  the  ripened  grain, 
and  does  not  pull  at  the  roots  or  cut  off 
the  tops  from  the  growing  crops  for  the 
sake  of  an  enthusiastic  report  or  a  dra- 
matic speech. 

The  telling  of  tragic  or  thrilling  stories 
does  not  indicate  good  morale  so  much  as 
it  hints  at  a  spirit  of  nervous  unrest  that 
cannot  get  on  without  the  stimulus  of 
constant  high  successes.  Too  many  "stage 
stories"  in  an  appeal  are  a  bad  system. 

Any  assumed  quality  dies  in  time  and 
76 


ARTIFICIAL  MORALE 

leaves  a  bad  spot  in  character.  Mission- 
aries, like  other  public  men,  have  their 
temptations  to  unreality,  but  the  results 
are  especially  damaging  with  the  mission- 
ary. All  good  workers  will  develop  devo- 
tion, courage,  activity,  cordiality,  and  zeal, 
but  once  consciously  assumed,  these  be- 
come pseudo-characteristics  and  create  an 
atmosphere  of  insincerity  that  prevents  the 
development  of  genuine  originals. 

Organized  Facts 

But  facts,  like  figures,  may  be  assembled 
so  as  to  deceive  or  discourage  or  distort  the 
real  issue.  Unorganized  facts  are  confusing. 
Much  depends  upon  how  the  emphasis  is 
distributed.  An  appeal  that  will  stimulate 
the  missionary  spirit  must  be  grounded  in 
facts,  but  the  facts  must  be  organized  and 
interpreted,  or  the  grain  of  principle  will 
be  lost  in  the  chaff  of  details.  A  mission- 
ary may  be  a  reporter,  which  is  well,  but 
his  reporting  will  be  doubled  in  value  if  it 
be  also  an  interpretation  and  a  prophecy. 
And  valid  prophecy  must  always  be  closely 
related  to  determinative  facts  of  a  situation. 

Any  missionary  interest  arising  from  re- 
77 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

sponse  to  appeals  largely  personal  in  char- 
acter and  emotional  in  type  is  apt  to  be 
transient.  It  may  be  genuine  enough  while 
it  lasts,  but  the  personal  factor  changes, 
the  enthusiasm  abates,  and  some  other 
dramatic  appeal  crowds  out  the  cause  that 
needs  assistance. 

Such  is  the  bane  of  whirlwind  campaigns 
for  funds  and  workers  sometimes  carried  on 
by  enthusiastic  missionary  speakers  who 
make  dramatic  appeals  for  money  to  carry 
on  more  or  less  independent  missionary 
enterprises.  When  "the  tumult  and  the 
shouting  dies,"  the  work  that  has  been 
suddenly  revived,  expires  with  small  hope 
of  any  permanent  resurrection. 

The  measure  of  value  of  missionary 
morale  is  its  staying  power.  When  interest 
and  service  go  on  steadily  through  the 
years,  we  may  be  sure  that  it  has  founda- 
tions that  abide,  and  that  what  is  builded 
thereon  will  stand  the  strains  of  times  and 
seasons  that  come  and  go  with  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  the  tide  of  human  affairs. 

Morale  and  Life  Results 

What  accounts  for  the  failure  of  so  many 
78 


ARTIFICIAL  MORALE 

missionaries  to  get  results  adequate  to 
their  preparation,  labor,  and  sacrifice? 
Verily,  this  is  a  leading  question.  The 
meager  outcome  of  some  promising  lives 
suggests  the  figure  of  a  railway  train  ready 
for  a  journey.  Presently  a  great  engine  in 
perfect  order  and  with  full  head  of  steam 
backs  down  and  bumps  against  the  train. 
Signals  are  given,  the  bell  rings,  and  the 
engine  pulls  out  majestically  on  its  run. 
But  the  train  remains  unmoved  on  the 
track.  No  connection  was  made.  There 
was  impact,  the  passengers  felt  it,  but 
there  was  no  coupling  established.  Re- 
sults— nothing. 

What  is  the  vital  connection  between  a 
missionary  and  his  life  result?  It  is  not 
his  age  nor  his  intellect,  not  his  physique 
nor  his  schooling  nor  his  previous  ex- 
perience. All  these  but  made  him  ready 
to  move  the  train  of  his  task.  Neither  is 
it  the  shout  with  which  he  sets  out  upon 
his  work.  The  bump  moved  the  train  but 
a  few  inches  and  that  backward. 

The  living  link  between  the  man  and  his 
results  is  the  personality,  the  spirit,  the 
indescribable  something  that  is  the  man 
79 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

himself,  back  of  and  greater  than  any 
other  factor  in  his  life.  It  is  the  morale 
of  a  man  that  ties  him  to  his  work  and 
moves  his  share  of  the  load.  It  is  a  tragedy 
that  any  man  has  brought  a  finely  equipped 
life  to  the  task  and  has  effected  a  worthy 
jar  on  his  first  impact  with  his  work,  and 
later  on  moved  away  leaving  no  results 
worth  mentioning. 


80 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  FOUNDATION  OF  FAITH 

Given  a  consuming  belief  in  the  worth 
of  a  cause,  there  exists  in  human  nature 
an  immense  capacity  for  sacrifice.  Ther- 
mopylae and  Balaklava  and  Bunker  Hill 
and  Chateau-Thierry  were  all  wrought  by 
faith.  The  work  of  Wy cliff e  and  Luther 
and  Wesley  was  accomplished  through  an 
overwhelming  certainty  of  the  invisible. 
Livingstone,  Morrison,  Carey,  Cox,  and 
William  Taylor  were  carried  onward  by 
the  forces  of  faith  in  the  all-necessity  of 
the  cause  they  served.  Columbus  and 
Magellan  and  Winthrop  and  Jason  Lee 
plunged  into  the  unknown  because  they 
lived  in  the  unseen. 

The  Foundation 

A  man's  faith  is  the  foundation  on  which 
he  builds  the  structure  of  his  personality, 
and  from  it  come  the  elements  of  stability 
and  courage.  "It  is  a  man's  idea,  his 
philosophy,  that  fixes  the  angle  of  impact 
81 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

of  all  experiences  upon  him  and  so  decides 
what  effect  each  experience  will  have." 

Morale  is  a  state  of  faith  more  than  it  is 
anything  else.  And  since  faith  is  the  very 
essence  of  things  not  seen,  it  cannot  be 
tested  in  advance  of  experience.  Praying 
for  "faith"  as  an  abstraction,  in  order 
that,  possessing  it,  one  may  go  forth  to 
meet  experience,  is  a  reversal  of  spiritual 
processes.  Life  supplies  the  tests,  while 
character  and  conduct  measure  the  reac- 
tions. A  man's  work  is  the  measure  of  the 
projecting  power  of  his  own  inner  cer- 
tainty. 

In  the  long  run  a  missionary  lives  on  the 
productive  power  of  his  personal  relation 
to  the  unseen.  If  life  be  reduced  to  visible 
and  audible  and  tangible  things,  he  is 
through  before  he  begins.  Measured  by 
campaigns  and  causes,  a  soldier's  faith  be- 
comes a  silent  but  powerful  factor  in  his 
fighting  spirit.  It  colors  all  his  motives 
and  intensifies  his  driving  power.  It  keeps 
him  fighting  on  after  lesser  forces  have 
weakened  under  the  struggle.  In  overcom- 
ing the  world  it  overcomes  everything  else. 

The  missionary's  faith  links  him  with 
82 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  FAITH 

the  inexhaustible  and  preserves  and  lifts 
his  whole  energy  on  to  a  higher  plane. 
There  is  a  mechanical  sort  of  preparation 
that  produces  a  workman  correct  by  rule, 
but  without  the  divine  fire  of  a  living 
faith  he  will  become  confused  under  a 
strain,  and  when  the  pressure  is  severe  he 
may  be  troubled  by  doubts  concerning  the 
validity  of  his  mission.  When  a  man 
throws  his  whole  life  into  African  jungles 
to  start  in  motion  healing  forces  for  the 
open  sore  of  the  world,  there  is  something 
more  vital  than  mere  schooling  or  intelli- 
gence or  resolution  to  account  for  the 
results. 

Faith  in  the  Unseen 

This  is  the  secret  of  the  ultrahuman  en- 
durance of  the  missionary  under  strain;  he 
is  upheld  by  a  clear  sense  of  the  reality  of 
a  Spiritual  Presence,  for  faith  at  its  high- 
est is  faith  in  a  Person.  The  worker  toils 
on,  weary  it  may  be  and  discouraged  often- 
times, but  he  goes  on  and  his  going  on 
rests  back  upon  his  consciousness  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  close  by  in  the  hour  of 
need.  It  makes  all  the  difference  in  the 
83 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

world  what  his  Lord  and  Master  thinks  of 
him  and  of  his  work.  So  long  as  he  is 
pleased,  what  else  matters? 

A  Personal  Faith 

It  is  this  sense  of  a  close  Spiritual  Per- 
sonality that  gives  its  longest  dimension 
and  highest  value  to  every  man's  work. 
The  deeds  of  one  day  are  small,  and  of  a 
lifetime  are  not  great.  Rut  when  the  day 
and  the  life  fall  into  an  ordered  plan,  and 
become  necessary  stones  in  the  wall  being 
erected  under  the  eye  of  the  Master 
Builder,  the  case  is  different.  To  know 
that  the  place  where  we  build  will  con- 
tinue to  rise  after  we  are  gone  is  to  make 
our  building  worth  while.  There  is  an 
immortality  through  works  that  lifts  a 
man  above  the  temporality  of  his  daily 
tasks  and  in  the  smile  of  his  Lord  makes 
him  more  than  conqueror. 

Fear  and  Love 

Fear  and  faith  are  mutually  antagonis- 
tic.    If  "perfect  love  caste th  out  fear," 
then  conversely  fear  dries  up  the  springs  of 
confidence  and  trust.    Man  fears  above  all 
84 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  FAITH 

creatures  because  he  is  more  intelligent 
and  more  imaginative,  and  the  missionary 
is  subject  to  a  whole  train  of  apprehensions 
that  arise  to  trouble  his  spirit  and  reduce 
his  results.  The  situation  of  isolation,  re- 
moteness, strangeness,  and  impossibility  of 
being  understood  tends  to  beget  a  host  of 
fears,  and  back  of  them  all  is  the  fear  of 
failure.  When  one  is  safe  in  the  fold  of 
the  home  church,  to  renounce  all  and  set 
out  to  follow  Christ  is  a  glorious  high  call- 
ing, but  ten  thousand  miles  away,  where 
no  one  knows  or  cares  or  understands, 
there  creeps  in  the  insidious  dread  that  the 
great  renunciation  may,  after  all,  bear  no 
justifying  results. 

The  technique  of  meeting  fear  is  simple 
enough  in  theory.  To  remember  that 
everybody  else  fears,  and  to  recognize  fear 
as  merely  a  factor  in  the  unavoidable  ex- 
periences of  life,  and  to  "take  a  long 
breath  and  go  in" — these  all  help  more  or 
less. 

But  the  mastery  of  fear  is  a  matter  of 

faith.    Where  unfaltering  confidence  fills  a 

man's  consciousness,  fear  is  automatically 

eliminated.     Now,  no  man  can  be  over- 

85 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

whelmingly  conscious  of  God  all  the  time. 
But  lie  may  cultivate  the  moments  of 
vision  and  by  regular  routine  of  devo- 
tional life  may  frequently  find  his  way  to 
the  place  where  the  still  small  Voice  is 
heard.  And  before  a  surpassing  love  for 
men  and  an  unshakable  certainty  of  God 
no  fear  can  stand. 

It  is  sometimes  supposed  that  whereas 
the  surroundings  of  home  life  are  distract- 
ing and  tend  to  devitalize  the  spiritual  life, 
the  atmosphere  of  a  foreign  mission  field 
will  be  found  uplifting  and  stimulating  to 
the  spirit.  Surely,  for  him  who  renounces 
all,  special  grace  will  lighten  the  task  and 
the  life  of  the  spirit  will  be  more  easily 
attained  than  in  one's  own  country.  Such 
vain  imaginations  leave  out  of  account  the 
fact  that  where  social,  domestic,  and  eccle- 
siastical support  is  wanting,  the  worker 
must  rest  his  morale  almost  wholly  on  his 
own  personal  consciousness  of  things  di- 
vine. Without  this  solid  foundation  in  a 
healthy  and  well-developed  spiritual  life,  a 
mission  may  become  a  place  of  moral  and 
spiritual  shipwreck.  In  any  case  it  is  not 
an  infirmary  for  sickly  saints. 
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CHAPTER  XI 

DISCIPLINE  AND  DRUDGERY 

Some  one  has  defined  genius  as  "the 
deliberate  choice  of  living  with  major 
issues  of  life."  Whether  this  is  genius 
may  be  questioned,  but  it  is  certainly  a 
strong  factor  in  good  morale. 

Majors  and  Minors 

Living  with  the  major  issues  does  not 
avoid  dealing  with  a  host  of  annoying  de- 
tails and  a  lot  of  tiresome  drudgery.  The 
major  issues  of  life  are  not  realized  with- 
out a  lot  of  mastery  of  minor  issues.  To 
get  beyond  the  minors  and  into  the  majors 
is  one  of  the  most  pressing  problems  of  a 
missionary's  life. 

No  matter  what  premissionary  ideals 
may  have  been,  on-the-field  experiences 
must  involve  constant  attention  to  trifles. 
Executive  officials  may  turn  some  of  this 
drudgery  over  to  private  secretaries  and 
office  staff,  but  the  field  man  must  usually 
87 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

be  his  own  secretary.  If  letters  are 
written,  he  must  "pound  them  out"  him- 
self. If  details  about  the  school  or  church 
or  mission  house  are  attended  to,  he  is 
usually  the  man  to  do  it.  And  to  attend 
to  the  thousand  details  and  keep  one's 
soul  thrilled  by  the  big  main  issue  at  the 
same  time — there's  the  rub. 

Duplex  Efficiency 

No  man's  call  includes  advance  informa- 
tion concerning  the  peculiar  strains  of  mis- 
sion life.  Of  all  the  responsibilities  that 
devolve  upon  the  missionary,  none  is 
greater  than  that  due  to  the  necessity  for 
his  being  both  a  prophet  and  an  adminis- 
trator. And  the  secret  of  success  in  this 
double  role  rests  in  the  personality  of  the 
man  himself.  It  is  morale  at  its  best,  for 
the  successful  missionary  must  be  a  duplex 
man;  rather,  he  must  be  multiplex  if  he  is 
to  do  all  things.  Amid  the  varied  gifts 
and  specializations  of  the  home  land,  one 
may  plant  and  another  water,  but  the  mis- 
sionary must  do  both.  At  home  one  may 
dream  and  devise  while  others  organize  and 
administer,  but  the  missionary  must  be 
88 


DISCIPLINE  AND  DRUDGERY 

equally  proficient  as  a  seer  of  visions  and 
an  executive  engineer.  He  must  mount  up 
with  wings  in  flights  of  prophetic  discern- 
ment, but  he  must  also  be  able  to  walk 
steadily  through  the  daily  tasks. 

Bridging  the  Gap 

To  bridge  the  gap  between  ideals  and 
realizations  becomes  the  missionary's  pe- 
culiar test.  He  must  always  keep  clearly 
in  view  the  new  city  of  God  to  be  brought 
down  out  of  heaven  and  set  up  on  the 
earth.  If  the  missionary  has  no  such 
vision,  his  people  will  perish  with  him. 

This  would  not  be  so  difficult  if  there 
were  not  always  something  else  in  the 
line  of  view.  To  look  at  a  filthy  native 
village  and  by  faith  behold  clean  streets 
and  pure  water  and  modern  sanitation  re- 
quires that  a  man  see  in  the  clouds  while 
his  feet  are  still  on  the  ground.  To  work 
with  crowds  of  diseased  and  offensive 
human  derelicts  and  see  in  them  possible 
health  and  intelligence  and  moral  sound- 
ness generates  a  nervous  strain.  To  work 
on  with  wretched  buildings  and  scant  fur- 
niture and  yet  see  adequate  churches  and 
89 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

schools  with  worthy  equipment  means  a 
tightening  tension  on  vital  forces,  espe- 
cially if  the  coming  be  long  delayed. 

Seeing  visions  is  not  the  hardest  point. 
Making  them  come  true  is  another  matter. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  look  over  a  mission 
situation  and  sketch  an  ideal  of  the  things 
that  ought  to  be.  To  cause  them  to  hap- 
pen is  proof  of  high  calling.  And  hardest 
of  all  it  is  to  do  three  things  at  once,  for 
the  man  must  see  visions  and  undertake 
their  realization,  and  meanwhile  go  on 
working  amid  disheartening  present-tense 
conditions. 

Personality 

The  gap  can  be  bridged ;  it  is  being  done 
every  day  in  nearly  every  mission  station 
on  earth.  But  the  bridging  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  technical  training,  it  is  a  question  of 
the  spirit  of  the  inner  life.  Flying  can  be 
taught,  also  the  science  of  survey  and  plan- 
drawing.  Training  may  produce  a  good 
builder  and  able  executive.  One  may 
learn  to  walk  and  not  faint.  But  to 
achieve  that  too-rare  versatility  that  can 
switch  from  flying  to  walking  and  do  both 
90 


DISCIPLINE  AND  DRUDGERY 

well  the  same  day  is  a  matter  of  a  man's 
own  inner  reactions  to  the  challenge  of 
life's  emergencies  and  exigencies.  In  the 
last  issue  it  is  the  thing  in  a  man  that  can 
never  be  measured  with  a  line  nor  weighed 
on  a  scale  that  determines  his  overcoming 
power. 

There  is  no  logical  accounting  for  a  mis- 
sionary's call,  nor  is  there  any  rational  ex- 
planation of  his  results.  Both  the  man 
and  his  product  belong  to  a  world  above 
the  rules  of  "good  business"  and  beyond 
the  considerations  of  "safety  first."  The 
need  is  not  so  much  for  more  missionaries 
as  for  a  superbrand  of  missionaries  who 
will  achieve  the  impossible  because  they 
are  themselves  humanly  unaccountable. 

Sacrifice  and  Discipline 

From  a  great  French  officer  comes  the 
dictum  that  "the  soul  of  the  soldier  means 
two  things,  the  spirit  of  sacrifice  and  the 
spirit  of  discipline." 

Likewise  it  may  be  said  that  the  soul  of 
the  missionary  is  two  things,  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  great  cause  and  the  mastery  of 
details  through  the  discipline  of  drudgery. 
91 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

With  these  two  wings  the  missionary 
eagle  soars  above  the  ruts.  By  them  his 
spirit  attains  mastery  in  any  wind  and 
weather.  The  "demons  of  fear,  fatigue, 
and  pain"  will  be  cast  out  only  when  the 
inner  spirit  rises  above  its  own  necessities 
and  lives  consciously  in  the  major  issues. 

Three  Disciplines 

1.  The  drudgery  of  small  daily  details 
has  much  to  do  with  steadying  personality 
and  producing  consecutive  effort.  To  go 
through  the  same  routine  of  school  work, 
day  after  day;  to  write  so  many  letters, 
each  of  small  value;  to  treat  so  many 
patients,  each  of  no  great  importance;  to 
visit  so  many  stations,  none  of  them  very 
flourishing — to  do  these  things  day  in  and 
day  out  is  wearing,  but  it  is  also  cumula- 
tive, and  in  the  end  bears  ripe  fruit  in 
both  the  work  and  the  worker. 

2.  The  drudgery  of  regular  physical  ex- 
ercise is  not  an  inspiring  thing,  but  it  has 
a  very  vital  relation  to  the  output  of  re- 
sults. A  dependable  physical  habit  does 
much  to  develop  a  reserve  force  that  will 
not  fail  in  emergencies.     Libraries  have 

92 


DISCIPLINE  AND  DRUDGERY 

been  written  on  the  matter  of  health,  and 
sooner  or  later  an  intelligent  man  must 
learn  the  rules  by  which  he  can  attain 
and  maintain  his  own  body  in  good  work- 
ing order.  From  that  on  it  is  a  matter  of 
playing  the  game  according  to  the  rules. 
If  his  spirit  cannot  master  his  body  and 
bring  it  under  the  drudgery  of  discipline, 
the  worker  and  his  work  must  suffer,  and 
to  that  extent  the  cause  must  fail. 

Morale  of  the  spirit  is  what  sound 
health  is  for  the  body.  To  drag  along  at 
a  poor  dying  rate  is  to  destroy  all  efficiency 
and  infect  the  surroundings.  The  man 
who  sets  himself  to  the  task  of  doing  all 
things  through  Christ  cannot  afford  to 
drag  about  a  half-nourished  and  ill- 
conditioned  body.  If  one  is  not  to  beat 
the  air,  but  fight  effectively,  he  must  take 
the  training  and  live  by  the  rules. 

3.  The  daily  devotional  habit  sometimes 
drifts  near  to  formalism,  but  the  regular 
moments  of  prayer  and  thought  are  the 
drill  that  keep  the  soul  fit  for  the  day. 
The  regular  fifteen  minutes  at  the  regular 
time  has  very  high  value.  The  difficulty  is 
to  find  the  fifteen  minutes,  but  somehow, 
93 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

somewhere  it  must  be  maintained  during 
the  day's  business,  if  the  King's  messenger 
is  to  represent  worthily  his  Master. 

Many  great  missionaries,  like  Daniel, 
have  been  methodical  almost  to  the  point 
of  becoming  mechanical  in  their  devotions. 
When  a  man  kneels  upon  his  knees  three 
times  a  day  and  does  it  in  the  same  spot 
with  his  face  turned  toward  a  certain  di- 
rection, he  may  be  called  a  formalist,  but 
he  is  apt  to  show  great  stability  in  emer- 
gencies. 

It  is  a  matter  of  finding  one's  climax, 
in  the  power  to  "keep  on  going  on,"  when 
things  are  going  fearfully  slow.  Since 
habit-forming  power  lies  in  the  individual, 
and  not  in  the  surroundings,  there  is  no 
security  except  in  the  deliberate  putting  of 
first  things  first  and  living  in  the  major 
issues. 

Formalities 

American  informality  is  a  high  achieve- 
ment in  a  way,  but  it  often  interferes  with 
devotional  schedules  and  practices;  and 
frequently  it  becomes  a  serious  noncon- 
ductor of  influence  with  the  natives  who 
94 


DISCIPLINE  AND  DRUDGERY 

are  unable  to  understand  our  seeming 
utter  lack  of  respect  for  what  are  to  them 
the  common  decencies  of  life.  We  seem 
to  show  small  appreciation  of  official  and 
social  values. 

Here  is  a  good  place  to  turn  vegetarian 
where  meat-eating  is  offensive  to  those  of 
different  standards.  It  is  impossible  to 
overdo  the  consideration  and  regard  paid 
to  other  people's  standards  where  those 
standards  do  not  conflict  with  moral  prin- 
ciples. In  a  general  way,  "it  is  impossible 
to  do  one's  formalities  too  well,"  for  by 
these  will  many  be  approved  or  condemned. 

Previous  Attainments 

There  is  the  driving  impulsion  of  a  man's 
former  successes.  One  outstanding  attain- 
ment forever  impels  a  man  to  measure  up 
to  his  best.  A  background  of  former  effi- 
ciency and  self-respect  is  armor  plate  in 
the  day  of  strain.  There  is  the  measure  of 
what  has  been  done  to  demand  still  more. 
A  man  with  such  a  background  will  show 
a  steadiness  and  buoyancy  impossible  to 
the  navigator  of  an  uncharted  sea.  Once 
sure  of  oneself,  the  battle  is  half  won. 
95 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

Over  every  mission  door  should  be  written, 
"No  doubters  need  enter  here."  If  they 
do  enter,  they  will  not  long  remain — as 
doubters.  Dogmatism  has  its  high  use  on 
the  mission  field.  But  it  must  be  the 
open-minded  dogmatism  that  is  sure  of  es- 
sentials and  willing  to  allow  full  liberty  in 
unimportant  things. 

Final  Devotement  of  Whole  Person- 
ality 

The  climax  of  missionary  service  lies  in 
that  ripened  maturity  that  at  last  lays 
aside  every  weight  and  devotes  every  atom 
of  personality  to  the  one  task  set  before. 
When  young  people  enlist  with  so  much 
of  enthusiasm  and  glow  they  think  they 
are  doing  just  this,  but  where  was  ever  a 
lonely  novitiate  who,  in  the  first  hours  of 
rebuff  and  discouragement,  did  not  hear 
inner  whispers  suggesting  that  he  had  made 
a  mistake?  Surely,  some  one  else  can  do 
the  work  better.  Other  young  people  are 
willing  to  "try"  it,  and  if  they  get  on  well, 
may  continue  for  a  time.  Should  the  work 
"not  appeal  to  them,"  they  may  drop  out. 

Such  a  state  of  mind  never  does  effective 
96 


DISCIPLINE  AND  DRUDGERY 

work.  Not  until  the  discipline  of  the  years 
has  eliminated  the  reservations  and  brought 
the  steady  stride  that  marks  the  passing 
of  illusions  and  halos  does  real  finality  ap- 
pear. Colonel  Gorgas  is  said  to  have  re- 
marked that  three  causes  sent  men  home 
from  the  Panama  Canal.  There  was  ma- 
laria, there  was  yellow  fever,  and  there 
were  "cold  feet,"  and  the  cold  feet  sent 
more  home  than  the  other  two. 

The  Missionary  and  His  Reading 

The  case  for  the  pastor's  reading  habit 
has  been  often  and  adequately  stated. 
Find  the  best  plea  for  the  faithful  reading 
of  good  books,  new  and  old,  by  the  man  in 
the  home  land  and  then  multiply  it  by 
three  for  the  missionary.  Verily  there  are 
three  multipliers: 

1.  Distance  from  the  currents  of  the 
world's  best  intellectual  and  spiritual  life. 

2.  Isolation  from  kindred  spirits  of  equal 
or  greater  ability. 

3.  The  daily  belittling  of  petty  tasks  of 
more  or  less  routine  nature,  without  the 
social  stimulus  of  virile  American  com- 
munity life. 

97 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

No  man  can  maintain  a  keen  mind  with- 
out constant  replenishing  at  the  springs 
from  which  flow  the  contributions  of  the 
thinkers  of  all  times.  The  missionary  may 
be  spared  the  dissipation  of  the  multipage 
daily  paper,  though  he  is  eager  to  see  one 
when  it  reaches  him;  but  he  misses  the 
undercurrent  of  stimulus  that  comes  from 
what  that  paper  represents  in  his  life.  And 
unless  he  can  establish  a  regular  course  of 
self-imposed  reading  of  the  things  worth 
while  his  mental  life  will  inevitably  go 
stale. 

In  many  missionary  situations  books  are 
hard  to  get,  but  a  man  can  surely  arrange 
to  read  at  least  six  new  books  a  year,  and 
less  than  that  means  a  slowing  up  of  intel- 
lectual life. 

Unique  Opportunities 

The  missionary  has  some  intellectual  op- 
portunities that  are  denied  to  his  fellows  at 
home.  There  are  Oriental  literatures  and 
philosophies  that  supply  fascinating  and 
fruitful  fields  of  research.  There  are  na- 
tives with  whom  he  may  discuss  questions 
of  the  spirit  and  from  whom  he  may  se- 
98 


DISCIPLINE  AND  DRUDGERY 

cure  valuable  suggestions  as  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  some  of  these  long-locked 
treasures  of  the  ancient  mind.  But  if  the 
missionary  is  to  keep  his  own  spirit  fresh 
and  maintain  an  intellectual  morale  that 
will  not  fail  him,  he  will  have  to  solve  in 
his  own  way  the  problem  of  having  always 
a  fresh  and  partly  read  book  on  his  desk 
or  in  his  traveling  bag. 

The  Silent  Death 

The  insidious  mischief  about  the  failing 
reading  habit  is  that  its  departure  is  so 
silent  and  stealthy  that  one  is  never  con- 
scious of  his  loss  until  the  guest  has  fled. 
And  when  a  man  ceases  to  read  and  grow, 
a  subtle  deterioration  sets  in  that  under- 
mines the  sources  of  his  spiritual  life,  and 
he  begins  to  slow  up.  If  this  were  a  con- 
scious loss,  it  would  not  so  much  matter. 
One  might  recover  the  lost  treasure  and 
go  on  with  his  work.  Possibly  no  man 
ever  knows  when  his  mind  has  lost  its 
fresh  approach  to  problems,  its  keen  in- 
itiative in  attack  and  its  attractive  strength 
in  carrying  burdens.  But  his  associates 
know  it  and  may  wonder  at  the  cause. 
99 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

The  springs  have  ceased  to  flow  and  the 
mind  is  going  dry.  So  insidious  and  deadly 
is  the  lethargy  that  follows  the  ending  of 
a  man's  reading  life  that  he  may  know  it 
only  by  noting  that  he  has  ceased  to  read. 
Few  of  his  distressed  friends  or  his  per- 
plexed followers  will  have  the  wisdom  or 
the  grace  to  tell  him  of  it.  Only  while  a 
man  stands  beside  the  stream  of  living 
water  that  bears  the  intellectual  life  of 
the  world  can  he  minister  to  his  fellow 
men  fresh  cargoes  of  the  mind  and  spirit. 

Tragic  Miss-Fits 

Discouragement  has  a  decidedly  patho- 
logical bearing  and  registers  in  constitu- 
tional symptoms.  Some  missionaries  have 
been  invalided  home  on  good-looking  doc- 
tor's certificates,  whose  maladies  could  have 
been  traced  back  to  general  discouragement 
and  unwillingness  longer  to  face  the  fight. 
Somebody  was  unpleasant,  some  one  did 
not  agree  with  them,' some  one  else  upset 
their  plans,  some  of  the  natives  did  not 
yield  to  treatment,  some  pet  projects  failed 
of  official  approval,  some  ideals  were  shat- 
tered, some  "weepy"  letters  from  home 
100 


DISCIPLINE  AND  DRUDGERY 

brought  a  consciousness  of  long  distances, 
some  personal  differences  destroyed  peace 
of  mind;  and  from  gloom  to  tears,  and 
from  tears  to  nerves,  and  from  nerves  to 
sleeplessness,  and  from  insomnia  to  loss  of 
appetite  the  illness  grew,  till  the  medical 
man  shook  his  head  and  said,  "Go  home." 
At  last  they  reached  "God's  country" 
again.  The  tragedy  was  that  they  ever 
left  it. 

The  veteran  missionary  has  his  com- 
pensations. He  may  lack  the  enthusiasm 
and  initiative  of  youth,  but  he  has  at  last 
the  steady  purpose  and  rich  experience  of 
a  devotion  not  subject  to  the  fluctuations 
of  temperament  and  the  aberrations  of 
inexperience. 

The  cause  will  be  won  by  the  men  who 
have  counted  as  loss  what  things  were 
gain  to  them  in  the  life  they  have  left 
behind,  and  literally  have  abandoned  all, 
that  they  may  rest  the  full  weight  of  their 
lives  on  the  command  of  Jesus,  and  chal- 
lenge to  service  in  the  neediest  fields. 

Such  missionaries  learned  how  to  endure 
hardness,  to  stand  up  and  face  life  without 
a  whine,  to  take  it  rough,  if  need  be,  and 
101 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

without  complaints,  "to  welcome  each  re- 
buff that  turns  earth's  smoothness  rough, 
that  bids  not  sit  nor  stand,  but  go."  To 
take  things  as  they  come  and  make  the 
most  of  them,  to  adopt  any  best  means 
at  hand  to  the  desired  end;  or,  if  need  be, 
get  results  without  means;  to  man  and 
master  any  situation — this  is  the  business 
of  the  missionary. 


102 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  HOME  CHURCH 

A  missionary  is  multiplied  by  his  back- 
ing. His  position  isolates  him  from  close 
touch  with  his  surroundings.  He  is  a 
foreigner  and  speaks  with  a  brogue.  He 
must  learn  by  patient  observation  the  cus- 
toms and  intimate  traits  of  the  native  life 
about  him;  and  not  all  missionaries  suc- 
ceed in  getting  the  native  touch.  Without 
that  something  that  overlaps  boundaries 
and  makes  the  whole  world  akin  he  will 
miserably  fail,  and  to  acquire  this  well 
takes  time,  and  during  this  period  of  re- 
orientation the  greater  strains  of  mission 
life  appear. 

Home  Backing  Multiplies 

A  man  without  a  backing  at  home  works 
without  momentum.  He  is  like  those  rail- 
way electric  lights  that  shine  dimly  on 
storage  battery  power,  but  when  "picked 
up"  by  the  generator  blaze  out  in  bril- 
103 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

liancy.  When  a  man  knows  that  people 
believe  in  him  he  "shines"  on  the  impulse 
of  their  faith  added  to  his  own. 

Obviously,  when  a  missionary  must  get 
to  his  field  as  early  as  possible  he  has  small 
chance  to  cultivate  a  wide  constituency  at 
home.  Early  furloughs  give  valuable  op- 
portunity for  creating  new  connections,  but 
the  first  years  are  apt  to  be  lonely  enough 
to  try  the  beginner  severely. 

A  soldier  without  connections  can  never 
be  much  of  a  soldier.  He  will  always  fight 
with  a  reservation.  And  when  a  mission- 
ary is  sent  out  without  a  constituency  he 
cannot  deliver  much  more  than  half  of  his 
potential  output.  A  soldier  will  not  risk 
his  life  unless  there  is  in  his  consciousness 
something  worth  fighting  for,  and  it  makes 
all  the  difference  in  the  world  whether  he 
knows  that  somebody  is  expecting  him  to 
do  his  best.  And  when  a  missionary  knows 
that  his  friends  believe  in  him  and  expect 
him  to  do  great  things  in  their  name,  he  is 
lifted  to  a  higher  place  of  results. 

Second-Term  Success 

The  greater  results  of  the  second  term 
104 


THE  HOME  CHURCH 

have  several  explanations.  Not  only  is  the 
experience  of  the  first  years  available  for 
reference,  but  the  furlough  year  has  given 
perspective  and  has  made  a  host  of  friends. 
The  man  returns,  no  longer  an  apprentice, 
but  a  veteran.  Henceforth  some  one  knows 
him  and  his  work  and  with  sympathetic 
interest  upholds  his  efforts.  There  are 
churches  that  look  forward  to  his  letters, 
and  there  are  personal  greetings  sent  out 
that  mean  much  in  the  midst  of  his  trials 
and  triumphs.  In  times  of  discouragement, 
at  that  depressing  two-o'clock-in-the-morn- 
ing  hour,  the  thought  of  the  people  who 
are  praying  for  him  will  have  a  wonder- 
fully tonic  effect  on  the  morale  of  a  tired 
man. 

Too  much  halo  is  a  hindrance,  even  to  a 
missionary,  but  there  is  compensation  in 
the  way  the  expectations  of  one's  friends 
do  put  him  on  his  mettle.  Halos  have 
their  place  and  use. 

When  the  home  base  becomes  also  the 
source  of  supply,  mixed  results  appear. 
Where  supplies  flow  from  the  constituency 
to  missionary  it  must  be  said  that  the  re- 
action on  the  constituency  is  better  than 
105 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

on  the  missionary.  Nowhere  is  a  better 
illustration  of  the  superior  blessedness  of 
giving  over  receiving.  The  home  church 
reads  and  rallies  and  collects  and  prays 
and  pays,  and  the  showers  of  blessing  fall. 

The  results  on  the  field  are  not  always 
unmixed.  It  is  a  fine  thing  when  a  mis- 
sionary can  use  his  furlough  in  raising 
funds  for  this  work.  But  if  the  large  in- 
crease is  used  to  open  new  work  which 
must  soon  be  left  without  support  because 
the  missionary  cannot  remain  at  home  to 
secure  more  gifts,  the  last  state  of  the 
work  may  be  worse  than  the  first.  Ob- 
viously, all  such  propaganda  work  and  the 
distribution  of  the  financial  proceeds 
thereof  should  be  under  the  direction  of 
the  office  or  authority  having  consecutive 
responsibility  for  administration  and  re- 
sults. Under  modern  conditions  the  dan- 
ger here  described  has  been  largely  elim- 
inated and  the  whole  level  of  missionary 
education  and  giving  in  the  home  church 
has  been  lifted  to  a  plane  of  intelligent 
undertaking  of  the  whole  task. 

The  missionary,  moreover,  is  in  a  dan- 
gerous position.  The  receptive  attitude 
106 


THE  HOME  CHURCH 

lurks  at  hand  and  may  seize  him  unawares. 
There  is  the  insidious  temptation  to  close 
every  letter  with  alluring  descriptions  of 
the  vast  results  easily  possible  if  only 
some  one  will  send  just  a  few  more  dollars. 
Even  where  he  eliminates  his  own  esti- 
mates of  possibilities,  he  is  apt  to  measure 
the  value  of  his  friendships  by  the  divi- 
dends they  will  pay  to  his  work;  and 
economic  interest  is  never  a  secure  nor 
permanent  tie  with  which  to  bind  mis- 
sionary friendships.  When  the  missionary 
degenerates  into  a  sentimental  beggar  the 
home  church  is  going  to  get  tired  of  his 
insistent  importunities  and  everlasting 
whining  about  his  hardships  and  bitter 
loneliness  and  failing  strength.  No  one 
needs  to  know  more  than  he  that  "whining 
is  not  shining." 

Pernicious  Correspondents 

Soldiers  in  France  did  not  write  home 
pathetic  letters,  begging  for  special  gifts. 
The  government  saw  to  it  that  they  did 
not  need  to  do  so.  Neither  did  they  de- 
scribe their  depressing  surroundings.  The 
writing  of  many  letters  may  be  a  weari- 
107 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

ness,  a  power  for  good,  or  a  nuisance. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  pernicious  letter- 
writer,  and  he  works  deadly  havoc  on  the 
mission  field.  Unless  a  missionary  can 
censor  his  own  mail,  he  had  better  leave  it 
unwritten. 

If  a  man  is  really  enduring  hard  knocks, 
his  letters  will  reflect  it  without  emphasis 
on  the  tragic  side  of  the  story.  The  mak- 
ing of  significant  sacrifices  is  a  creative  and 
stimulative  thing,  but  the  stage-set  and 
purposely  exhibited  sacrifice  becomes  a 
ghastly  travesty.  Worth-while  sacrifices 
restore  broken  connections,  rebuild  normal 
spirits,  and  awaken  determination  to  do 
full  duty. 

Tell  the  Truth 

What  the  missionary  needs  to  know  is 
that  the  ultimate  strength  of  his  cause 
with  the  home  base  lies  in  his  facts.  Over 
the  desk  of  every  missionary  should  hang 
this  motto,  "Tell  the  truth,"  and  under- 
neath might  be  inscribed,  "In  this  sign, 
conquer."  No  man  faces  greater  tempta- 
tions to  careless  statements  than  a  mis- 
sionary. Every  subtle  suggestion  of  Jesuit- 
108 


THE  HOME  CHURCH 

ism  comes  to  bear  upon  him.  His  work 
changes  rapidly,  and  what  was  true  yes- 
terday bears  a  different  value  to-day. 
The  voice  of  the  tempter  is  heard  near  at 
hand.  Just  a  little  coloring  of  facts,  just 
a  little  padding  of  figures,  just  a  little 
liberty  with  the  story  would  make  it  so 
much  more  dramatic.  And  the  cause  is 
so  needy.  And  the  good  story  would  bring 
more  money.  It  is  a  terrible  strain  on  a 
literary  imagination,  and  the  end  would 
somehow  justify  the  means. 

The  antidote  for  this  tendency,  where  it 
exists,  is  to  remember  that  accuracy  is 
essential  for  that  moral  soundness  on  which 
all  good  morale  is  founded.  When  a  man 
buys  the  truth  at  the  price  of  his  life- 
service  it  behooves  him  to  sell  it  not, 
even  for  the  prize  of  a  few  more  special 
gifts  for  the  "greatest  opportunity  I  have 
ever  seen." 

Shouting,  "O  Baal,  hear  us,"  has  never 
accomplished  much  with  either  human  or 
pagan  objects  of  petition.  The  straight- 
forward missionary  whose  virile  spirit  de- 
pends on  the  facts,  and  who  relies  upon 
accurate  and  organized  reports  of  actual 
109 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

conditions,  will  impress  his  readers  with 
the  sound  and  constructive  grasp  of  his 
program.  Sweat  and  tears  are  not  very 
convincing  as  compared  with  accurate  sur- 
veys and  statesmanlike  projects  for  ad- 
vance. And  the  home  church  is  beginning 
to  require  of  a  missionary  that  he  have  an 
adequate  knowledge  of  his  field  and  a 
definite  program  of  procedure. 

Getting    the    Facts    to    the    Home 
Church 

The  matter  of  getting  the  facts  through 
to  the  home  church  is  not  so  simple  as 
may  appear.  Periodicals,  speeches,  letters, 
pictures,  exhibit  material  all  have  high 
place.  The  furlough  man  is  worked  to 
capacity.  Occasionally  some  layman  visits 
the  field  with  excellent  results.  The  tourist 
visitor,  however,  is  not  an  unmixed  bless- 
ing. Sometimes  he  comes  to  pry  and 
criticize  and  returns  to  scoff  and  scorn. 
And  ever  after,  "he  knows  the  facts,  for 
he  was  there."  In  some  cases  all  he  saw 
was  the  views  afforded  by  steamer  decks, 
hotel  verandas,  and  car  windows. 

More  tragic  is  the  case  of  the  critic,  en- 
110 


THE  HOME  CHURCH 

tertained  by  the  missionary  at  much 
sacrifice  in  hope  of  a  good  impression. 
After  the  carefully  hoarded  dainties  have 
been  brought  forth  and  served  liberally  in 
hope  of  winning  another  friend  to  the 
cause,  the  visitor  has  been  known  to  go 
home  and  report  that  the  missionaries  were 
living  in  luxury  on  the  fat  of  the  land  and 
were  a  worthless  lot  of  parasites  anyway. 

Pictures  are  good  (if  they  are  good),  but 
even  pictures  may  fail  to  tell  the  truth. 
Much  depends  upon  the  commentator. 
Pictures  are  good,  but  vision  is  better. 
Pictures  never  can  take  the  place  of  per- 
sonality. Hard  facts  without  human  char- 
acter in  the  midst  are  no  better  than  dry 
bones. 

Every  missionary  ought  to  have  a  good 
camera  and  mimeograph,  but  before  he 
begins  to  use  them  for  the  instruction  of 
his  constituency  he  should  be  tested  for 
accuracy  and  measured  for  imagination. 
Marvelous  is  the  power  to  tell  an  effective 
story  without  rubbing  in  a  financial  moral 
at  the  end.  The  irrational  enthusiasm  of 
blind  optimism  must  give  way  to  strong, 
constructive,  manly  statements. 
Ill 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

The  field  needs  men  who  know  them- 
selves, know  their  work,  and  know  their 
goals  and  bend  all  energies  to  reach  them. 

Publicity 

There  is  a  type  of  publicity  that  pre- 
supposes that  one  of  the  requisites  for 
saving  all  men  is  to  fill  enough  space  in 
the  paper.  What  is  printed  is  a  secondary 
matter  if  only  the  power  of  iteration  may 
bring  the  cause  again  and  again  before  the 
eyes  of  those  who  read  newspapers.  Cer- 
tainly, this  art  has  high  value,  but,  after 
ail,  if  Jesus  Christ  had  depended  on  the 
pagan  predecessors  of  modern  publicity  ex- 
perts, he  would  have  closed  his  life  in 
failure.  He  got  only  four  inches  in  a 
column  of  Josephus,  which  lacks  much  of 
representing  a  first-page  head.  There  are 
forces  of  the  spirit  that  transcend  pub- 
licity. It  may  be  just  as  well  to  have 
something  to  advertise  before  we  begin  to 
shout.  The  first  essential  to  telling  a  good 
story  is  to  have  a  story  to  tell.  And  when 
the  story  is  found,  then  let  it  be  told  far 
and  wide,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  cause 
let  it  be  told  accurately. 
112 


THE  HOME  CHURCH 

Emotional  Appeals 

Tearful  tales  on  the  part  of  furlough  men 
have  created  a  suspicion  of  the  whole  en- 
terprise. Isolated  feeling  is  a  dangerous 
guide  to  conduct,  and  the  man  in  the  pew- 
knows  it.  The  hearer  either  swings  into 
impulsive  and  unintelligent  response  or  he 
resents  the  method  of  appeal  and  dis- 
credits the  plea. 

What  a  man  feels  himself  about  his  work 
will  tell  its  story  without  conscious  effort 
to  work  up  the  sensibilities  of  the  audience. 
Nowhere  is  utter  genuineness  more  needed 
than  in  a  missionary  speech.  The  appeal 
rests  back  on  its  genuineness,  and  this 
kind  cometh  not  forth  except  by  attain- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  Him  who  made  him- 
self of  no  reputation  and  gave  his  all  that 
he  might  redeem  a  very  large  and  difficult 
mission  field. 


113 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MISSIONARY  ADMINISTRATION 

Missionary  administration  has  more  to 
do  with  missionary  morale  than  may  at 
first  appear.  The  candidate  has  not  so 
much  as  heard  that  there  be  any  such 
thing,  but  the  day  of  his  awakening  is  not 
far  distant.  There  are  too  many  wrecks 
along  this  shore,  and  we  need  some  chart 
that  will  indicate  the  route  of  harmonious 
cooperation  between  the  field  and  the 
office. 

Contact  with  the  Office 

Since  the  recruit  has  slight  personal  con- 
nections with  the  home  church,  the  ad- 
ministrative office  becomes  the  working 
contact  between  the  missionary  and  the 
home  base.  It  is  here  that  the  worker 
must  look  for  information,  direction,  sug- 
gestion, and  criticism  of  his  work.  Here 
the  entente  cordial  e  comes  to  its  full  sig- 
114 


MISSIONARY  ADMINISTRATION 

nificance.  Friction  between  the  field  and 
the  office,  loss  of  confidence  on  either  side, 
will  reduce  the  output  in  extreme  cases  to 
zero. 

In  practice  the  maintenance  of  this  mu- 
tual confidence  is  ninety-five  per  cent  a 
matter  of  personal  acquaintance.  If  the 
men  at  both  ends  of  a  pretty  long  line 
have  had  opportunity  to  know  each  other, 
nearly  all  the  kinks  in  the  line  automati- 
cally disappear.  Letters  sent  half  around 
the  globe  are  often  strangely  affected  by 
the  sea  voyage  and  sometimes  are  warped 
by  unfamiliar  climates — when  the  senders 
and  receivers  are  not  on  terms  of  close 
acquaintance.  A  remark  made  in  person 
with  a  smile  or  a  humorous  inflection, 
when  written  minus  the  smile  and  the 
tone,  may  cause  an  explosion  ten  thousand 
miles  away.  It  may  be  said  that  personal 
misunderstandings  with  the  office  or  board 
usually  increase  in  direct  ratio  to  the 
square  of  the  distance. 

Long  distances  in  space  and  time,  with 
a  rapidly  moving  program,  bring  differ- 
ences of  viewpoint  so  rapidly  that  only 
frequent  personal  conferences  between 
115 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

workers  and  field  executives  can  prevent 
misunderstandings  and  disagreements. 
Every  missionary  should  be  given  some 
opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with 
his  home  office,  and  every  executive  ought 
to  know  something  of  his  field  from  per- 
sonal visitation  and  some  representative 
missionary  experiences.  But  receptions, 
prepared  programs,  conferences,  and  gala 
occasions  are  not  representative  expe- 
riences. The  general  executive  who  is  to 
get  in  touch  with  the  actual  work  of  the 
missionary  will  need  a  sympathetic  im- 
agination to  get  back  of  the  nonconducting 
formalities  and  exhibits  that  are  offered 
him  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit. 

Four  principles  of  administrative  pro- 
cedure appear  to  be  gaining  general  ac- 
ceptance. 

1.  The  Unified  Command 

At  the  Edinburgh  Conference  in  1910 
Dr.  John  R.  Mott  said  that  the  complete 
coordination  of  the  missionary  forces  of 
the  world  would  be  equivalent  to  doubling 
those  forces.  This  statement  he  reaffirmed 
in  1919  with  added  emphasis. 
116 


MISSIONARY  ADMINISTRATION 

A  new  basis  of  procedure  has  come  to 
prominence.  The  old  days  of  "doing  the 
best  we  could"  are.  forever  past.  Slowly 
but  surely  we  are  getting  together,  not  to 
do  the  best  we  can  with  limited  means  and 
dim  visions,  but  to  undertake  the  whole 
task  before  us.  What  centralization  of 
command  did  for  the  Allies  in  1918  the 
same  principle  is  doing  for  the  allied 
churches.  Elimination  of  waste,  duplica- 
tion, overlapping,  and  overcrowding  is 
already  simplifying  our  objectives  and  in- 
creasing our  effectiveness.  The  adoption 
of  uniform  programs,  schedules,  methods, 
and  objectives,  and  the  uniting  of  denomi- 
national projects  into  more  far-reaching 
and  effective  enterprises  have  changed  the 
petty  competitions  of  former  days  into  the 
beginnings  of  master  strategy  in  missionary 
administration. 

2.  The  Whole  Objective 

On  a  certain  ferry  one  morning  at  the 
rush  hour  two  thousand  people  were 
crowded  upon  one  steamer.  An  observant 
passenger  noticed  a  lifeboat  bearing  the 
inscription,  "Capacity,  12  people."  Look- 
117 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

ing  about,  he  counted  a  total  of  four  such 
boats.  Evidently,  the  company  had 
counted  on  saving  forty-eight  out  of  a 
possible  two  thousand  people  in  case  of 
accident. 

That  is  what  the  church  has  been  doing. 
"The  Lord  could  save  the  heathen  without 
our  help,"  and  we  read,  "Fear  not,  little 
flock,  .  .  ."  and  smugly  congratulated  our- 
selves that  since  the  flock  was  so  small  we 
were  fortunate  to  be  inside  the  fold.  The 
day  is  past  when  any  follower  of  Jesus 
Christ  can  stop  his  devotional  reading 
after  the  word  "flock"  and  not  catch  the 
challenge  of  the  rest  of  the  sentence.  We 
are  thinking  to-day  in  terms  of  the  King- 
dom. It  is  proposed  definitely  and  sys- 
tematically to  undertake  the  whole  task. 
No  wonder  that  some  former  methods  and 
plans  are  on  the  scrap-heap.  Some  men 
and  some  missions  will  "crumple  up"  under 
the  strain,  and  the  Great  Cause  will  gain 
much  thereby. 

3.  The  Specific  Task 

To  see  a  goal  clearly  is  to  make  progress 
toward  it.    The  man  who  sets  out  aimlessly 
118 


MISSIONARY  ADMINISTRATION 

to  "serve  the  Lord"  will  never  form  a 
definite  program,  and  will  not  know  what 
to  do  with  one  when  offered  him.  The 
whole  church  is  thinking  in  terms  of  survey 
and  responsibility  and  cooperation  and 
definite  objectives.  A  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth  are  before  us.  It  is  possible  to 
work  along  for  years  in  a  mission  with  no 
very  clear  idea  as  to  what  is  being  at- 
tempted and  with  no  very  definite  results. 
It  is  easy  to  follow  a  conventional  routine, 
but  not  very  profitable.  To  such  a  situa- 
tion the  coming  of  a  definite  objective  has 
brought  new  vitality  and  energy  and  the 
little  flock  has  for  the  first  time  caught  a 
glimpse  of  its  coming  Kingdom.  There  is 
a  larger  and  better  way  than  doing  the 
best  one  can  and  breathing  a  thankful  sigh 
that  it  is  no  worse. 

Interdenominational  comity  is  not  an 
exact  science,  but  it  is  something  better: 
it  is  a  flexible  working  principle.  Pro- 
verbially futile  are  doctrinal  disputes  and 
quibbles  about  methods  of  baptism  in 
lands  where  people  degrade  womanhood 
and  worship  cows.  The  native  is  not 
without  discernment.  He  does  make  a 
119 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

distinction.  In  West  China,  for  instance, 
he  is  said  to  discriminate  between  the 
'Big  Wash  Folks"  and  the  "Little  Wash 
Folks"  and  the  "Don't  Wash  at  all  Folks." 
When  the  case  is  stated  that  way  there  is 
little  to  be  said  by  mere  Baptists  and 
Methodists  and  Friends. 

4.  The  Standardized  Organization 

One  of  the  major  embarrassments  of 
missionary  administration,  and  one  of  the 
most  distressing  leaks  in  efficiency,  is  the 
irresponsible,  detached,  independent  "mis- 
sionary" who  declines  to  recognize  or  co- 
operate with  any  reputable  agency  in  the 
field  or  at  home.  The  fact  that  such  people 
are  usually  of  good  moral  character  and 
possess  good  motives  does  not  save  their 
activities  from  serious  interference  with 
larger  programs.  That  they  endure  occa- 
sional hardships  incident  to  their  defective 
basis  of  support  does  not  prevent  them 
from  sowing  discord  and  strife  on  the  field. 
Calling  them  "faith"  missionaries  does  not 
avoid  vast  confusion  in  the  minds  of  unin- 
structed  natives  and  a  general  tearing  down 
as  fast  as  others  can  build  up.  These  er- 
120 


MISSIONARY  ADMINISTRATION 

ratic  prophets  go  about  leaving  discord 
behind  them  and  discrediting  all  valid 
missionary  work  in  the  eyes  of  sensible 
people  who  come  to  know  them  and  their 
ways.  Some  of  the  antagonism  to  mis- 
sionaries found  on  ocean  steamers  has 
been  stimulated  by  the  fanatical  manner- 
isms of  people  who  have  made  themselves 
nuisances  en  route.  It  is  not  always  ex- 
pedient to  extemporize  a  rescue  mission  on 
a  steamer  deck. 

Most  of  these  disturbers  claim  to  be 
"faith  missionaries" — whatever  that 
abused  term  may  mean.  In  most  cases 
as  used  by  them  it  means  that  they  have 
no  visible  means  of  support.  Frequently 
they  represent  detached  and  peculiar 
creeds,  often  weird  and  irrational  in  the 
extreme.  They  emphasize  differences 
rather  than  agreements,  friction  rather 
than  fraternity,  and  sometimes  they  set- 
tle down  beside  established  missions  and 
promulgate  their  "advanced"  teachings 
among  the  disturbed  members  of  the  na- 
tive church. 

The  problem  of  the  missionary's  rela- 
tions with  these  irresponsibles  is  a  difficult 

121 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

one  and  requires  much  grace  and  tact.  As 
interchurch  comity  grows  apace  the  gulf 
of  difference  between  these  wandering 
stars  and  the  more  fixed  denominational 
constellations  will  widen.  No  way  has 
been  devised  of  dissuading  any  man  who 
thinks  he  is  called  from  starting  out  at 
random  to  be  a  miniature  Paul.  So  long 
as  a  few  friends  send  occasional  dollars  he 
will  struggle  along.  Such  men  must  be 
treated  with  personal  kindness.  Anything 
like  opposition  pours  oil  on  the  troubled 
flames.  The  missionary  will  need  all  the 
poise  and  patience  he  can  possess. 

As  the  effort  to  Christianize  the  world 
proceeds  apace  it  becomes  increasingly  evi- 
dent that  really  effective  work  is  to  be 
done  largely  through  the  regular  denomi- 
national boards  which  have  strong  home 
constituencies  and  which  are  directed  by 
trained  and  experienced  administrators.  If 
missions  are  a  matter  ,of  faith,  the  whole 
church  should  share  the  grace.  The  ro- 
mance of  the  independent  "faith  mission" 
too  often  proves  but  an  illusion  from  which 
come  no  lasting  results.  On  the  steerage 
of  a  trans-oceanic  steamer  an  earnest  man 
122 


MISSIONARY  ADMINISTRATION 

and  his  wife  were  traveling  to  the  Orient. 
Between  exhortations  to  their  fellow  pas- 
sengers, most  of  whom  could  understand 
but  little  of  the  English  language  used, 
these  self-appointed  missionaries  explained 
that  they  had  received  a  miraculous  gift  of 
"tongues"  and  were  going  to  a  country 
where  they  could  at  once  begin  missionary 
work  with  the  natives.  Some  friend  had 
provided  passage  money  and  they  would 
trust  the  Lord  for  all  else.  No  comment  is 
needed,  but  in  some  such  cases  the  devotee 
has  been  saved  from  starvation  only  by  the 
help  of  the  regular  denominational  mis- 
sionary who  shared  what  he  had  with  the 
stranded  fanatics.  One  such  leader  gath- 
ered a  band  of  men  and  took  them  to 
Africa  "by  faith,"  but  without  funds,  food, 
or  medicine.  They  would  trust  the  Lord 
for  all.  Most  of  the  unfortunates  died 
within  a  year,  and  the  returning  leader 
proclaimed  that  it  was  all  for  the  glory  of 
God,  and  has  since  published  a  series  of 
pamphlets  "exposing"  the  iniquities  of  de- 
nominational missionary  work.  Such  a  case 
is  extreme,  but  indicates  what  may  be  ex- 
pected when  fanaticism  has  run  its  course. 
123 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  MISSION  FAMILY 

Nowhere  is  the  personal  equation 
stronger  than  on  the  mission  field.  Every 
individual  idiosyncrasy  and  peculiarity  is 
multiplied  as  many  times  as  there  are 
members  of  the  family. 

Living  in  Close  Quarters 

When  one  wearies  of  his  friends  in  New 
York  he  can  readily  escape  for  a  time. 
There  are  plenty  of  other  people,  and  most 
of  the  personal  strains  of  life  relax  if  we 
can  merely  get  out  of  sight  of  each  other 
for  a  few  hours  per  day,  and  occasionally 
for  a  few  days  at  a  time. 

The  missionary  has  little  opportunity 
for  such  relief.  Two  teachers  living  to- 
gether in  the  same  house,  teaching  in  the 
same  school,  eating  at  the  same  table 
three  times  a  day,  spending  almost  every 
waking  hour  in  each  other's  company, 
with  not  another  kindred  soul  within  a 
124 


THE  MISSION  FAMILY 

day's  journey,  have  a  strain  to  meet  that 
few  people  in  the  homeland  can  appreciate 
or  understand.  In  one  such  case  a  veteran 
and  a  novice  were  paired  off  in  an  isolated 
location.  Incompatibility  of  temperament 
developed  until  something  near  insanity 
compelled  a  readjustment,  which  at  once 
cured  the  case. 

If  missionary  morale  is  to  be  anything 
more  than  a  name,  there  must  be  a  way 
to  adjust  the  personal  relations  of  a  mis- 
sion family.  The  candidate  faces  no  more 
important  issue  than  that  of  making  effec- 
tive personal  contacts. 

The  system  of  housing  all  mission  work- 
ers in  a  compound  had  its  value  under 
early  conditions.  But  with  assured  safety 
more  stress  is  being  placed  on  the  principle 
of  scattering  workers  about  where  they 
may  become  acquainted  with  the  neighbors 
and  their  personal  influence  may  be  multi- 
plied. If  missionaries  could  see  less  of 
each  other,  many  of  the  personal  prob- 
lems would  be  solved. 

Whatever  the  living  conditions,  mission- 
aries must  get  along  with  each  other  or 
the  tongues  of  the  best  of  them  may  make 
125 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

a  noise  like  sounding  brass  or  jarring 
wrangle.  And  worse  than  audible  dis- 
suasion is  that  profane  silence  that  breaks 
the  spirit  of  fellowship. 

It  does  not  relieve  the  situation  to  claim 
that  some  people  are  sensitive.  Of  course 
they  are.  All  fine  souls  are  sensitive.  But 
sensitiveness  of  the  sort  that  causes  its 
possessor  to  mope  about  with  wounded 
feelings  is  the  mark  of  a  small  mind  and 
the  sign  of  selfishness. 

The  new  missionary  needs  the  close 
friendship  of  a  veteran  during  the  years  of 
his  novitiate.  If  he  comes  to  the  field 
with  the  idea  that  he  represents  the  latest 
product  of  the  wisdom  of  the  home  church 
and  should  enlighten  the  weary  workers 
long  on  the  field,  it  becomes  a  blessing 
that  for  a  year  or  two  he  is  perforce  dumb. 
By  the  time  he  can  express  his  thoughts 
in  a  foreign  language  he  may  have  ac- 
quired some  conception  of  the  issues  in- 
volved in  Christianizing  the  lives  of  the 
natives. 

A  Missionary's  Recreation 

"No   play,    no   missionary,"    might   be 
126 


THE  MISSION  FAMILY 

adopted  as  a  good  working  motto.  Some 
sort  of  relaxation  is  indispensable.  And 
play  is  a  social  affair.  Jungle-tramping 
may  be  a  solo  performance,  but  it  is  much 
more  profitable  with  a  party.  Tennis  is 
justly  famed  as  a  missionary  pastime.  Ath- 
letics of  all  sorts  are  valuable,  but  those 
that  involve  a  social  element  rank  highest 
in  the  scale.  Photography  is  a  valuable 
aid  to  mission  work.  Whatever  be  the 
hobby,  a  man  or  a  woman  simply  must 
have  some  way  of  getting  his  mind  out  of 
the  deepening  grooves  and  giving  his  soul 
a  little  air  now  and  then.  Like  his  devo- 
tions, his  recreational  life  will  accomplish 
most  when  linked  with  some  general  scheme 
of  the  day's  business.  There  are  ultra- 
serious  people  who  have  no  time  for  play, 
but  they  are  not  the  best  missionaries  nor 
the  easiest  to  get  along  with.  The  gospel 
records  supply  a  valuable  text  in  the  mat- 
ter of  balancing  interests  and  maintaining 
a  normal  and  sane  personal  attitude  to- 
ward work  and  play. 

Readjusting  Social  Standards 

Social  readjustments  are  among  the  difii- 
127 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

culties  of  a  missionary's  life.  The  novice 
meets  a  new  set  of  sanctions  at  wide 
variance  with  his  own,  and  needs  much 
time  even  to  understand  the  often  com- 
plicated customs  of  his  people.  To  conform 
to  these  arbitrary  and  often  disagreeable 
regulations  involves  much  sacrifice.  He 
did  not  leave  his  homeland  to  conform  to 
irritating  nonessentials.  At  this  turn  of 
the  road  have  occurred  many  wrecks. 
Where  missionaries  have  not  been  able  or 
willing  to  change  their  ways  to  conform  to 
strange  customs  they  have  often  failed  to 
attain  personal  influence  with  the  natives. 

No^one  suggests  that  moral  compromises 
be  made,  but  in  matters  purely  social  and 
incidental  there  is  but  one  thing  to  do. 
If  the  natives  eat  with  hats  on,  then  when 
the  missionary  eats  with  them  let  him  re- 
tain his  hat.  If  one  is  to  live  in  Rome  for 
the  sake  of  making  Rome  and  the  Romans 
better,  then  as  far  as  possible  let  him  be- 
come a  Roman. 

Social    customs    and    associations    vary 

widely  in   different  countries.     American 

social  customs  presuppose  high  standards 

of  moral  life  and  conduct  on  the  part  of 

128 


THE  MISSION  FAMILY 

young  men  and  young  women.  Other 
countries  have  found  such  freedom  of  so- 
cial life  unsafe,  and  in  defense  of  daughters 
have  established  a  system  of  rigid  over- 
sight. In  such  cases,  where  missionaries 
are  involved,  there  must  be  unhesitating 
conformity  to  native  standards.  The 
presence  of  an  American  colony  near  a 
foreign  mission  may  become  a  veritable 
snare,  especially  if  the  mission  include 
some  young  unmarried  women  and  the 
colony  some  lonely  bachelors.  No  young 
man  or  woman  should  set  forth  for  a  mis- 
sion field  until  this  matter  is  well  under- 
stood, and  its  implications  cheerfully  ac- 
cepted. 

Contract  Teachers 

The  employment  of  contract  teachers  has 
sometimes  proved  a  mixed  blessing  for  two 
reasons.  Some  contract  teachers  disclaim 
any  high  missionary  motive  other  than  a 
desire  to  do  their  work  as  well  as  possible 
in  the  schoolroom.  The  contract  worker, 
being  engaged  for  a  limited  period  only,  is 
in  more  or  less  of  a  transient  relation  and 
cannot  acquire  the  attitude  of  whole- 
129 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

hearted  devotement  that  comes  to  the 
missionary  who  follows  a  life  calling.  The 
contract  teacher  is  frequently  a  real  mis- 
sionary at  heart  and  renders  highly  effec- 
tive service.  Other  contract  teachers  fail 
to  realize  the  need  of  social  conformity  to 
the  standards  required  of  mission  workers. 
These  are  exceptions,  however,  and  some 
very  high  and  valuable  service  is  rendered 
by  these  teachers. 

Unmarried  Women 

Young  and  unmarried  women  raise  a 
missionary  problem  because  of  the  divine 
right  of  every  woman,  especially  if  young 
and  attractive,  to  marry.  All  efforts  to  set 
a  time  limit  to  matrimony,  and  impose 
penalties  for  breaking  over  too  soon,  have 
resulted  in  little  but  complications  and  re- 
adjustments. There  is,  and  should  be,  no 
antidote  for  the  great  feminine  reservation, 
but  it  does  play  the  mischief  with  a  mission 
at  times.  The  very  isolation  and  loneliness 
of  the  situation  make  matrimony  doubly 
attractive.  If  there  is  but  one  man  in 
reach,  it  seems  too  bad  to  lose  the  chance. 
All  of  this  applies  equally  to  the  unmarried 
130 


THE  MISSION  FAMILY 

man,  with  the  universal  difference  that 
marriage  ties  a  man  tightly  to  his  work, 
but  pries  a  woman  loose  and  destroys  her 
value  as  a  single  woman.  As  a  married 
woman  she  may  remain  a  valuable  member 
of  the  staff,  but  she  cannot  do  what  she 
would  have  done  as  a  single  missionary. 

A  Working  Sense  of  Humor 

Much  has  been  said  elsewhere  about  the 
need  of  a  working  sense  of  humor.  In  the 
mission  family  the  urgent  need  of  this  be- 
comes vividly  apparent.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  any  set  of  people  can  get  along 
together  successfully  without  an  ameliorat- 
ing capacity  for  some  fun.  While  such  a 
sixth  sense  may  be  cultivated,  exhortation 
will  not  produce  it.  Let  not  the  inex- 
perienced tyro  set  forth  into  the  unknown 
without  a  good  joke-appreciator  in  his  per- 
sonal traveling  outfit. 

Social  Graces 

The  missionary  needs  social  adaptability 

as  much  as  a  government  diplomat.     Too 

often  have  social  impossibles  supposed  that 

in  missionary  work  they  could  escape  from 

131 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

the  strain  of  social  functions  where  they 
could  think  of  nothing  to  say  and  therefore 
sat  helpless  and  abashed  along  the  prover- 
bial "wall."  The  mission  field  is  no  place 
for  that  blank  look  of  helplessness  that 
marks  the  hermit  when  trapped  in  a  social 
situation.  Unless  the  presence  of  people 
proves  a  reliable  stimulus  to  one's  social 
faculties  it  is  useless  to  try  to  work  with 
gracious  and  cultivated  men  and  women. 
For  the  degree  and  kind  of  influence  the 
missionary  develops  will  depend  much  upon 
his  social  contacts. 

Between  missionaries  often  have  arisen 
some  of  the  finest  friendships  on  earth. 
Of  Davids  and  Jonathans  there  have  been 
many,  and  of  Damon  and  Pythias  there 
have  been  numerous  examples.  The  fellow- 
ship of  the  worth-while  task  is  the  finest 
flavored  on  earth.  The  veterans  talk  most 
happily  of  the  years  of  toil  and  struggle 
and  adventure. 

The  Wider  Fellowships 

Out  beyond  the  fellowships  of  the  im- 
mediate mission  stretches  an  innumerable 
company  of  saints,  prophets,  priests,  and 
132 


THE  MISSION  FAMILY 

kings,  martyrs,  heroes,  explorers,  and  foun- 
dation-layers of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  all 
ages.  It  is  no  small  experience  to  see  the 
mountainside  covered  with  horses  and 
chariots  of  fire.  He  to  whom  comes  the 
vision  shows  a  new  morale.  To  know  that 
the  countless  hosts  of  the  ages  are  working 
with  us  and  for  us  is  a  great  strengthener 
of  resolution  and  a  mighty  stabilizer  of 
conduct  when  under  strain. 

One  man  may  chase  a  thousand,  but 
two  men  can  overcome  ten  thousand.  The 
social  sense  of  comradeship  multiplies  a 
man  by  five.  The  spirit  of  the  company, 
the  fellowship  of  the  meeting,  the  kinship 
of  the  denomination,  the  sense  of  keeping 
step  with  the  saints,  living  or  dead,  sus- 
tains many  a  weary  worker  who  would 
otherwise  fall  by  the  way.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
innumerable  company  is  a  great  builder  of 
fighting  morale. 

There  is  a  comfortable  sense  of  brother- 
hood with  other  missionaries.  Everywhere 
they  are  toiling  on,  over  the  deserts  and  up 
the  steep  places  and  sometimes  through 
dismal  swamps.  Occasionally  they  emerge 
133 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

on  the  heights  and  catch  glimpses  of  each 
other's  faces  against  the  glory  of  the  new 
heavens,  and  with  a  shout  and  a  cheer 
they  go  on  with  their  work.  The  world 
may  separate  kindred  spirits,  but  the 
world  is  a  small  and  shrinking  place,  and 
here  and  there  the  climbers  and  lifters 
meet  together  and  with  gladness  of  heart 
recount  their  toils  and  triumphs  and  go  on 
their  way  again. 

Missionaries  are  not  much  given  to  ex- 
pression of  sentiment  or  display  of  emo- 
tions. Families  are  broken  up  and  scat- 
tered never  to  meet  again  as  parents  and 
children.  Wives  and  husbands  are  parted 
for  months  and  years.  All  family  ties  are 
stretched  to  the  utmost.  But  not  many 
tears  are  shed,  at  least  not  many  in  public. 
Partings  for  years  are  passed  with  smiles 
and  cheers.  It  is  the  glory  of  the  invisible, 
the  morale  of  the  missionary.  The  high 
principles  that  we  live  for  demand  our 
utmost  best,  and,  after  all,  in  our  personal 
relations  we  register  our  mark  of  efficiency 
on  the  scale  of  service. 


134 


CHAPTER  XV 

PUBLIC  SERVICE 

If  a  missionary  is  anything  more  than  a 
recluse  or  the  private  chaplain  of  a  select 
few,  he  will  meet  public  officials  and  will 
become  a  factor  in  public  affairs.  Such  is 
the  inevitable  result  of  a  strong  personality 
dealing  with  human  values. 

A  Missionary's  Influence 

Almost  any  kind  of  ability  will  get  a 
chance  somewhere.  Many  a  missionary 
has  proven  to  be  the  saving  grace  of  inter- 
national complications  and  the  composer 
of  internecine  quarrels.  Men  with  tact  and 
sense  always  will  find  their  way  into  posi- 
tions of  influence  where  they  will  have 
ample  opportunity  to  exercise  such  gifts  as 
they  may  possess. 

Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  says  that  when  he 

was  a  young  man  his  father  gave  him  this 

bit  of  pertinent  advice:   "First  get  your 

influence,    then    use    it."      It    might    be 

135 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

written  on  the  flyleaf  of  every  missionary's 
Bible. 

The  man  who  is  tempted  to  play  his 
piece  de  resistance  the  first  month  of  his 
work  needs  the  Abbott  motto.  Influence 
is  a  matter  of  acquaintance  and  doing 
something  in  the  present  tense.  Former 
records  are  useful  to  the  man  himself  but 
worthless  with  his  constituency.  The  less 
said  about  them  the  better.  Certainly,  a 
humble  and  a  contrite  spirit  is  the  be- 
ginning of  effective  personal  contacts: 
The  strongest  friendships  take  time  to 
ripen,  and  any  self-exaltation  breaks  the 
contact.  Nowhere  is  a  superb  spirit  more 
needed  than  in  dealing  with  native  leaders 
of  public  affairs. 

An  ambitious  recruit  began  his  mission- 
ary career  by  informing  his  veteran  fellow 
workers  of  their  mistakes.  In  his  interior 
province  he  called  on  the  governor  and 
offered  to  advise  him  as  to  the  best  method 
of  conducting  the  affairs  of  his  office.  The 
governor  remembered  an  engagement  and 
excused  himself.  In  his  own  congregation 
the  militant  missionary  showed  a  Bible  in 
one  hand  and  a  gun  in  the  other,  and  an- 
136 


PUBLIC  SERVICE 

nounced  that,  in  general  terms,  if  they  did 
not  receive  the  Book,  they  knew  what  to 
expect  next.  A  few  months  later  the  "mis- 
sionary" was  back  in  his  home  country 
bewailing  the  stupidity  of  the  natives. 

Reform  measures  led  by  missionaries  are 
at  best  temporary  expedients.  Not  until 
leadership  is  raised  up  from  within  can 
any  people  make  very  permanent  progress 
in  improvements  of  vice  conditions  and  so- 
cial situations.  The  effective  missionary 
keeps  himself  in  the  background  and  di- 
rects with  the  unseen  hand  while  native 
leaders  do  the  shouting  and  direct  the 
campaign.  Anti-opium  crusades  by  the 
score  have  been  inspired  by  missionaries, 
but  the  poppies  were  dug  out  by  native 
hands.  Cigarettes  were  barred  from  a 
great  province  in  China,  but  the  mass 
meetings  were  addressed  by  both  natives 
and  foreigners,  and  the  actual  work  of  the 
campaign  was  done  by  Chinese.  Opium 
was  kept  out  of  the  Philippines  by  the 
dramatic  work  of  one  strong  missionary 
who  threw  his  whole  soul  into  a  protest 
that  was  availing.  A  farm  colony  in  one 
mission  was  established  by  a  missionary 
137 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

who  secured  the  cooperation  of  native 
officials  and  capitalists  and  guaranteed  the 
success  of  the  work.  In  another  country 
missionaries  diplomatically  suggested 
needed  changes  in  children's  clothing  that 
were  immediately  adopted.  'Temperance 
instruction  in  many  lands  is  still  confined 
to  mission  schools,  but  in  some  countries 
the  influence  of  these  schools  has  been 
sufficient  to  cause  similar  instruction  to  be 
introduced  into  public  schools.  Medical 
missionaries  have  exerted  influence  far  be- 
yond all  computation  by  their  personal 
access  to  the  homes  and  hearts  of  influen- 
tial people.  Women  have  found  their  way 
into  thousands  of  places  closed  to  men, 
and  there  have  wrought  mighty  things 
with  the  wives  and  mothers  and  daughters 
of  leading  men.  So  great  has  been  the  per- 
sonal influence  of  missionaries  with  savage 
chiefs  that  we  almost  have  developed  a  tra- 
dition covering  such  cases.  One  missionary 
leader  is  credited  with  having  done  much 
to  forestall  a  great  war  in  the  Orient. 

Letting  in  the  Light 

It  is  not  often  that  the  flash-light  method 
138 


PUBLIC  SERVICE 

accomplishes  much  toward  the  bringing  of 
a  new  day.  With  the  establishment  of  a 
comprehensive  Christian  program  and  its 
illustration  through  a  group  of  people 
whose  hearts  God  has  touched,  the  native 
mind  slowly  begins  to  work  in  new  direc- 
tions. As  better  methods  become  ap- 
parent, dissatisfaction  with  the  old  order 
arises  and  reforms  germinate  in  the  mind. 
Here  arises  opportunity  for  skillful  leader- 
ship of  moral  forces  and  stimulated  per- 
sonalities. If  the  body  is  the  temple  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  then  any  deforming  or 
defiling  of  the  body  becomes  sacrilege. 
Suddenly  a  whole  train  of  supposedly 
harmless  practices  emerges  as  highly  repre- 
hensible. Drunkenness,  licentiousness, 
foot-binding,  filth,  and  gluttony  become 
matters  of  new  concern,  to  be  eliminated 
by  new  forces. 

The  Missionary  Not  a  Propagandist 

The  missionary  who  goes  forth  with  the 
intention  of  becoming  a  professional  pro- 
moter of  reform  campaigns  on  the  lines 
on  which  such  movements  are  conducted 
in  the  United  States  needs  to  study  the 
139 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

pathway  by  which  the  older  civilization 
has  reached  the  point  where  such  propa- 
ganda is  possible.  He  may  also  remember 
that  such  campaigns  in  the  United  States 
are  not  conducted  by  foreigners,  but  by 
citizens  of  North  America.  The  day  of 
sweeping  reform  is  near  at  hand  in  nearly 
every  land,  but  the  leadership  of  such  ad- 
vances will  be  largely  native. 

Dealing  with  Governments 

Nowhere  does  the  spirit  of  a  man  count 
for  more  than  in  his  personal  relations  with 
officials  of  the  government  under  which  he 
works.  Good  judgment,  pleasing  person- 
ality, understanding  and  exercise  of  native 
standards  of  courtesy,  sympathetic  appre- 
ciation of  the  native  viewpoint  and  recog- 
nition of  national  ideals,  knowledge  of 
national  history  and  traditions,  and  an 
attitude  of  willingness  to  learn  from  those 
with  whom  he  associates  are  all  indis- 
pensable for  the  missionary,  who  must  also 
be  a  diplomat  at  large. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  missionary 
is  to  inject  himself  into  governmental 
affairs.  In  all  matters  political  the  one 
140 


PUBLIC  SERVICE 

rule  is  that  of  neutrality.  Parties,  policies, 
administrations,  legislation,  and  revolu- 
tions may  come  and  go,  but  the  missionary 
and  his  work  stay  on.  One  unfortunate 
alignment  of  the  mission  with  the  wrong 
party,  and  the  cause  may  be  lost.  For  the 
missionary  there  are  no  parties,  but  there 
are  always  individual  officials  with  whom 
he  should  maintain  personal  relations  to 
the  advantage  of  his  work  and  often  to 
the  benefit  of  the  officials. 

There  are  few  governments  in  any  coun- 
try to-day  that  are  officially  hostile  to  the 
work  of  the  Christian  missionary.  Per- 
sonal antagonisms  must  be  dealt  with  on  a 
personal  basis.  The  educational,  medical, 
and  industrial  work  of  the  mission  has 
won  universal  favor. 

The  maintenance  of  satisfactory  personal 
relations  with  government  officials  be- 
comes a  missionary's  business  as  much  as 
teaching  or  touring.  A  thousand  favors 
are  granted  by  these  officials,  and  their 
friendliness  has  been  of  inestimable  value 
to  missionaries  everywhere.  As  experience 
widens,  the  missionary  marvels  at  the 
generous  treatment  that  he  often  receives 
141 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

from  men  who  have  small  personal  sym- 
pathy with  his  religion,  but  who  believe  in 
him  and  in  the  practical  results  of  his 
work.  And  the  value  of  such  contacts  de- 
pends largely  upon  that  unmeasured  some- 
thing about  a  man  that  constitutes  his 
"personality." 

If  the  missionary  is  to  succeed  in  this 
matter,  he  must  learn  the  rules  of  the  court, 
or  office,  or  executive  mansion,  and  abide 
by  them.  Formal  calls  must  be  made,  and 
they  must  be  made  so  as  not  to  offend  the 
standards  and  tastes  of  men  to  whom  these 
matters  are  vital.  There  are  a  standard  of 
etiquette  and  a  conformity  to  convention 
that  are  essential  to  success.  Clothes  and 
hours  and  introductions  and  formalities — 
let  them  all  be  learned  and  followed;  but 
back  of  the  dress  suit  and  the  engraved  card 
and  the  advantageous  introduction  and 
the  punctilious  observance  is,  after  all,  the 
man  himself.  Without  force  of  character 
and  effective  morale  all  these  externals  will 
go  for  naught. 


142 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  MISSIONARY  AND  HIS 
MISSION 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  morale 
of  the  training  camp  will  be  sufficient  for 
the  strains  of  the  field.  After  the  candi- 
date has  been  trained  and  tested  and  in- 
structed and  exhorted  and  farewelled,  his 
real  trial  is  yet  to  come.  He  is  at  this 
point  high-grade  raw  material,  and  the 
final  product  is  still  a  matter  of  some 
uncertainty. 

Meeting  the  Constituency 

The  impact  of  a  missionary's  constit- 
uency does  more  for  and  to  him  than 
anything  else.  Between  the  exalted  en- 
thusiasm of  big  conventions  and  heroic 
farewells  and  the  dull  inertia  of  the  un- 
interested "heathen"  there  is  an  awful 
contrast.  When  the  worker  has  to  face 
the  fanatical  onslaughts  of  Mohammedan 
or  Jesuit  communities  the  case  is  harder 
still.  With  entirely  benevolent  intentions 
143 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

the  herald  of  light  goes  forth  to  find  that 
the  heathen  does  not  want  to  be  illumi- 
nated; in  fact,  he  often  resents  it  bitterly. 
And  it  sometimes  happens  that  as  soon  as 
he  can  see  to  walk  he  sets  out  on  inde- 
pendent trails  and  causes  no  end  of  con- 
cern to  his  spiritual  guides. 

The  comparative  age  of  a  mission  may 
be  tested  by  the  relations  between  a 
missionary  and  his  people.  In  the  early 
years  the  foreigner  does  nearly  everything. 
Later  he  trains  "native  helpers,"  who  be- 
come his  pride — and  sometimes  his  con- 
sternation. As  the  work  grows  these  help- 
ers grow  in  wisdom  and  experience,  and 
often  before  the  missionary  is  well  aware 
of  it  he  has  become  a  "foreign  helper"  to 
the  native  leaders. 

The  readjustments  incident  to  this  third 
stage  are  not  always  painless.  There  are 
missionaries  who  have  the  same  difficulties 
at  this  point  that  parents  meet  when  their 
children  come  to  face  them  on  a  level, 
instead  of  looking  up  for  guidance.  The 
day  must  finally  come  in  every  successful 
mission  when  the  native  takes  over  bur- 
dens and  responsibilities  and  the  foreigner 
144 


MISSIONARY  AND  HIS  MISSION 

becomes  a  specialist  set  to  certain  tasks  to 
which  he  is  adapted. 

The  Pioneer 

The  typical  missionary  has  a  penchant 
for  the  frontier.  A  pack-mule  and  an  un- 
known trail  always  challenge  him  to  push 
on.  He  has  an  ingrained  propensity  to 
explore  and  found  and  initiate  and  or- 
ganize. Since  Abram  went  out,  not  know- 
ing whither  he  went,  a  host  of  others  have 
followed  in  his  steps  to  become  members 
of  the  glorious  caravan  of  moral  and  spirit- 
ual pioneers,  moving  in  dramatic  pageant 
across  the  deserts  of  life,  producing  oases 
at  every  night's  encampment.  The  mis- 
sionary is  the  man  of  the  frontier  who 
resolutely  faces  society's  desert  edge  and 
stands  against  the  deadly  drifts  that  would 
sweep  over  civilization  and  destroy  its 
fruits  and  flowers. 

The  background  of  a  missionary's  call 
always  includes  a  sense  of  desperate  need 
on  the  part  of  those  to  whom  he  goes  and 
the  infinite  value  of  the  remedy  offered. 
The  need  possibly  may  be  conceived  in 
theological  terms,  and  the  remedy  may  be 
145 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

thought  to  be  the  adoption  of  a  ritual  or 
performance  of  a  rite,  but  the  essential 
process  is  the  same.  When  the  need  is 
understood  in  terms  of  stunted  and  dwarfed 
personalities  destitute  of  the  more  abun- 
dant life  which  can  expand  the  shriveled 
souls  and  drive  back  the  whole  encroaching 
horizon  that  crowds  in  on  every  side,  then 
the  divine  commission  rises  to  the  eternal 
dignity  and  infinite  worth  of  a  heavenly 
calling. 

The  point  of  contact  with  this  degrada- 
tion in  practice  may  be  some  particular 
rite  or  barbarism  or  superstition,  particu- 
larly offensive  to  Christian  standards. 
Something  like  the  hatred  of  the  trench 
soldier  for  the  abominable  practices  of  his 
enemy  may  arise  in  the  missionary's  heart 
when  he  "makes  contact"  with  the  various 
objectionable  features  of  his  community. 
A  real  horror  of  heathenism  may  play  a 
vital  part  in  the  equipment  of  energies 
with  which  a  man  goes  about  his  work  in  a 
strange  land. 

Flowers  in  the  Desert 

In  this  human  desert,  with  patient  culti- 
146 


MISSIONARY  AND  HIS  MISSION 

vation,  some  flowers  will  appear,  and  with 
them  the  missionary  will  start  his  oasis. 
It  must  be  individual  attention  and  in- 
tensive cultivation,  but  the  garden  will 
grow.  The  human  material  is  at  hand  in 
raw  state.  To  make  these  bones  live  there 
must  come  the  heavenly  breath  of  spiritual 
vitality,  and  it  comes  through  the  heart 
of  the  missionary. 

Perhaps  the  "bones"  to  be  clothed  may 
be  found  near  at  hand.  Friendship  may 
be  clothed  with  spiritual  possibilities  of 
high  order.  There  are  always  native  cus- 
toms, innocent  and  socially  useful,  that 
may  be  clothed  with  new  significance. 
Established  observances  can  be  turned  to 
good  account.  There  are  occasional  con- 
trasts between  the  acknowledged  barbar- 
isms and  the  obviously  better  ways  of  the 
Christian  faith.  In  moments  of  life's 
climaxes,  births,  weddings,  deaths,  and 
accidents  these  contrasts  stand  out  viv- 
idly. Here  and  there  native  believers 
begin  to  develop  definite  spiritual  expe- 
riences, and  these  become  wells  of  water 
from  which  the  thirsty  missionary  and  the 
young  church  may  refresh  their  weary 
147 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

spirits.  There  is  a  growing  fellowship  in 
the  new  household  of  faith  that  binds 
strong  ties  about  those  who  enter  the  little 
circle  of  believers  who  gather,  first  be- 
cause they  like  the  leader,  and  then  be- 
cause they  find  personal  help,  and  last 
because  they  too  are  impelled  to  serve. 

From  such  materials  is  builded  the  mo- 
rale of  the  native  church.  To  develop  the 
spiritual  life  and  enlarge  the  moral  vision 
of  a  company  of  believers  is  one  of  the 
highest  privileges  that  life  holds  for  any 
worker. 

The  Margin  of  Reticence 

Whatever  of  horror  a  man  may  feel 
about  the  objectionable  features  of  his 
surroundings,  he  must  learn  to  keep  to 
himself.  Inwardly  conscious  of  a  su- 
periority over  his  community,  he  must  live 
on  the  common  ground  that  always  exists 
somewhere  in  every  social  situation.  No 
man  and  no  cause  can  live  on  points  of 
superiority  over  the  neighbors.  There  are 
sound  and  sane  fundamentals  of  human 
life  and  experience  to  which  we  must  all 
come  as  a  basis  of  building.  These  funda- 
148 


MISSIONARY  AND  HIS  MISSION 

mentals  exist  in  all  people,  even  if  buried 
under  hoary  and  sometimes  barbarous  cus- 
toms. To  find  and  uncover  and  develop 
and  build  upon  these  foundations  is  a  mis- 
sionary's high  calling. 

The  Personal  Touch 

Through  these  fundamentals  the  mis- 
sionary will  find  that  personal  touch  upon 
which  everything  else  depends.  It  took 
twenty-two  years  for  Dan  Crawford  to 
produce  Thinking  Black.  Until  a  man  can 
think  in  any  color  that  matches  his  sur- 
roundings he  has  not  found  the  key  to  his 
constituency.  A  veteran  missionary  uni- 
versity president  stood  looking  over  his 
campus.  "These  people  are  just  as  brainy 
as  we  are,"  he  remarked.  And  the  sooner 
we  find  it  out  the  better. 

The  personal  touch  is  easier  to  discuss 
than  to  acquire,  but  given  a  fundamental 
liking  for  folks,  it  is  always  possible,  even 
with  a  faulty  language  approach.  The 
new  missionary  can  accomplish  wonders 
by  "sitting  in  a  rocking  chair"  in  the 
house  of  his  friend.  Just  to  hang  about 
and  show  a  real  personal  interest  means 
149 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

much.  American  brusqueness  and  bustle 
are  hindrances  to  progress  in  personal  ac- 
quaintance, but  we  can  afford  to  learn 
from  our  pupils  in  this  respect. 

Language  Problems 

Language  problems  belong  properly  to 
the  field  of  labor,  yet  much  time  might  be 
saved  if  all  candidates  could  be  given  a 
couple  of  years  of  language  training  pre- 
vious to  being  sent  out  for  work.  South 
American  missionaries  usually  have  been 
given  a  heavy  handicap  in  being  required 
to  begin  at  once  to  teach  English,  and 
leave  the  matter  of  language  study  to  in- 
cidental hours.  The  unfortunate  result  is 
that  years  afterward  the  worker  is  handi- 
capped by  his  faulty  command  of  the 
vernacular.  A  year  devoted  to  language 
work  would  release  many  a  linguistic  crip- 
ple from  his  crutches.  The  only  way  yet 
devised  to  get  effective  command  of  a 
language  is  to  learn  it.  And,  obviously, 
when  a  man  is  careless  and  slipshod  in 
the  use  of  his  mother  tongue  he  is  not 
apt  to  shine  as  a  linguist  in  his  adopted 
country. 

150 


MISSIONARY  AND  HIS  MISSION 

Native  Fellowships 

One  of  the  greatest  compensations  that 
come  to  the  missionary  lies  in  personal 
fellowships  with  his  people.  The  very  dif- 
ference of  national  character  and  personal 
viewpoint  supplies  a  flavor  and  interest  and 
variety  that  make  such  friendships  sources 
of  never-failing  enjoyment  and  surprise. 
The  unexpected  has  its  high  charm,  and 
there  is  plenty  of  it.  In  spite  of  difference 
in  color  and  speech  there  arise  warm  friend- 
ships that  enrich  all  experience.  Where  is 
the  missionary  who  has  not  parted,  heavy- 
hearted,  from  a  circle  of  weeping  followers? 
He  may  have  been  merely  going  for  a  fur- 
lough, but  to  them  it  was  a  long,  long 
break  in  their  lives.  It  is  high  reward  to 
know  that  even  an  imperfect  investment 
of  life  has  produced  a  permanent  impres- 
sion for  good  in  lives  that  otherwise  would 
never  have  been  touched.  There  are  no 
rewards  in  life  so  priceless  as  the  reactions 
that  come  back  to  us  from  the  hearts  that 
we  have  helped  along  the  way.  Some- 
times the  native  shows  a  sense  of  gratitude 
all  out  of  proportion  to  what  he  has  ac- 
151 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

tually  received.  Sometimes  he  seems  ir- 
responsive and  unappreciative,  but,  after 
all,  the  pathetic  gratitude  of  racial  chil- 
dren gets  a  tense  hold  on  the  heart-strings 
of  the  missionary. 

The  Art  of  Command 

Command  is  a  difficult  art  for  Americans; 
we  are  too  democratic  and  independent  for 
the  part.  The  missionary  who  goes  forth 
with  the  idea  that  he  is  to  take  charge  and 
give  orders  is  scheduled  for  disaster.  The 
missionary  must  in  some  way  blend  com- 
radeship and  control,  which  is  never  easy. 
The  position  of  any  leader  is  an  exposed 
position,  inviting  criticism  and  sometimes 
ridicule.  Dignity  is  not  solemnity,  nor  are 
pomposity  and  severity  the  measure  of  au- 
thority. Dignity  is  essentially  a  sense  of 
values.  It  may  be  very  simple  and  say 
little.  The  native  church  gets  its  cue  un- 
consciously from  the  unexpressed  value- 
standards  of  its  leaders.  The  specialist  in 
American  informality  has  much  to  learn 
before  he  can  become  an  effective  leader  of 
natives  in  any  mission  field.  No  position 
in  the  world  requires  a  nicer  balance  of 
152 


MISSIONARY  AND  HIS  MISSION 

qualities  than  that  of  leading,  command- 
ing, teaching,  and  chumming,  all  at  one 
time,  with  one's  constituency. 

Living  as  the  Natives 

To  reach  native  lives  it  does  not  follow 
that  one  must  live  in  all  things  as  they  do. 
In  fact,  the  natives  do  not  live  very  suc- 
cessfully, and  the  missionary  will  not  live 
at  all  if  he  tries  to  subsist  on  wretched  food 
amid  squalor  and  filth  to  which  he  is  a 
natural  stranger.  An  American  cannot  live 
as  the  bushmen  in  Africa  live,  nor  as  the 
outcastes  of  India  live,  nor  as  the  coolies 
of  China  live.  If  anyone  thinks  he  can 
do  so,  let  him  set  up  a  model  in  a  nearby 
vacant  lot  and  try  it  awhile  at  home. 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  missionary 
should  not  maintain  his  home  in  cleanness 
and  decency.  In  fact,  if  he  does  try  to 
live  like  the  natives,  they  will  usually 
mark  him  down  as  a  failure  in  his  own  land 
who  had  to  come  to  them  and  who  is  no 
better  than  themselves.  And  the  church 
that  sends  out  the  missionary  has  no  right 
to  provide  its  families  and  pastors  with 
comforts  and  luxuries  of  life  and  ask  its 
153 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

missionaries  to  live  below  the  level  of 
domestic  pets  at  home.  The  experiment 
has  been  made  with  disastrous  results.  As 
to  the  charge  that  the  mission  houses  are 
better  than  those  of  the  natives,  it  may 
be  said  that  they  are  rarely  ever  equipped 
with  even  the  simple  sanitary  conveniences 
incident  to  the  home  of  a  day  laborer  in 
the  United  States. 

Back  of  these  externals  it  is  to  be  said 
that  it  is  not  the  missionary's  house  that 
determines  his  success  or  failure.  It  is  the 
missionary's  spirit.  If  he  manifests  the 
mind  that  was  in  Christ,  he  will  find  in 
every  place  hearts  that  will  respond,  and 
externals  will  find  their  level. 

Native  Religions 

The  contact  with  a  native  religion  is  a 
difficult  problem  for  a  missionary.  That 
there  is  something  good  in  every  man's 
religion,  to  be  sought  out  and  made  a 
starting-point  for  the  clearer  vision,  needs 
no  emphasis.  But  in  practice  the  study  of 
comparative  religions  in  a  college  library  is 
a  very  different  matter  from  settling  down 
amid  people  who  practice  the  ethics  or 
154 


MISSIONARY  AND  HIS  MISSION 

nonethics  resulting  from  one  of  these  in- 
teresting faiths  of  the  world. 

Nevertheless,  the  only  key  to  the  inner- 
most chamber  of  a  man's  life  is  his  reli- 
gion. Unless  we  unlock  that  long-closed 
door  we  may  declaim  and  decry  for  years 
with  no  result.  That  the  native  never 
lives  up  to  the  best  in  his  own  religion  is 
not  pertinent — neither  does  the  Christian. 

Loving  the  People 

It  comes  at  last  to  this:  A  missionary 
can  work  wonders  with  people,  provided 
he  really  likes  them.  Given  a  genuine 
love  for  folks,  the  most  fastidious  woman 
may  be  reconciled  to  a  life  among  the 
zenanas  or  in  ministry  to  Chinese  woman- 
hood in  the  wretched  village  hovels  of  the 
interior.  Let  him  who  cannot  acquire  a 
real  love  for  the  people  about  him  sadly 
turn  back.  Love  bears  all,  believes  all, 
hopes  all,  endures  all,  lives  in  all  manner 
of  conditions,  toils  on  helping  many,  sav- 
ing some,  showing  forth  the  Master  until 
his  coming  again. 

How  small  a  missionary  is  amid  his  re- 
sponsibilities none  realizes  better  than  him- 
155 


MISSIONARY  MORALE 

self.  But  every  act  of  God's  man  is  multi- 
plied by  the  forces  that  work  through  him. 
His  small  tracing  on  the  plan  of  immediate 
action  is  enlarged  and  projected  in  the 
national,  social,  and  domestic  life  of  the 
people.  It  requires  an  empowered  man  to 
become  the  saving  grace  among  ten  thou- 
sand. 

The  Victory  of  Morale 

"Morale  wins,  not  by  itself,  but  by  turn- 
ing scales,  developing  resources,  assembling 
forces,"  says  Professor  Hocking.  Here  the 
morale  of  the  missionary  registers  its  final 
triumph.  Greater  than  a  striking  person- 
ality, greater  than  dramatic  narrative, 
greater  than  spectacular  plans  and  pro- 
jects, greater  than  tireless  toil,  greater  than 
any  other  factor  in  a  missionary's  life  is  his 
final  ability  to  "turn  scales,  develop  re- 
sources, assemble  forces,"  and  to  bring 
about  a  new  and  original  reincarnation  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 


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